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THE  LOEB  CLASSICAL  LIBRARY 

EDITED    BY 
T.    E.    PAGE,    LITT.D. 

E.  CAPPS,  ph.d.,  ll.d.     W.  H.  D.  ROUSE,  litt.d. 


JUVENAL  AND   PERSIUS 


JUVENAL 

AND 

PERSIUS 

WITH  AN    ENGLISH   TRANSLATION    BY 
G.  G.  RAMSAY,  LL.D.,  Lirr.D. 

LATE   PROFESSOR   OF  LATIN   IN  TUB   UNIVERSITY   OF  GLASGOW 


LONDON   :  WILLIAM  HEINEMANN 
NEW  YORK    ;    G.    P.    PUTNAM'S   SONS 

MCMXXVIII 


PA 

First  printed  1918 
Reprinted,  1920, 1924, 1928 

644C 

/■u 

19  2-0 

edT 


.  c 


PRINTED  DT  GREAT  BRITAE* 


PREFACE 

It  is  a  work  of  some  hardihood  to  attempt  the 
translation  into  English  prose  of  an  author  who  is  at 
once  a  unique  master  of  style,  a  splendid  versifier, 
the  greatest  satirist,  and  one  of  the  greatest  moralists, 
of  the  world.  Yet  it  is  a  task  that  has  appealed  to 
scholars  of  every  age,  and  has  a  special  fascination 
for  one  who  is  called  upon  hy  the  conditions  of  this 
series  to  produce  a  version  which  shall  be  at  once 
literal  and  idiomatic. 

In  the  case  of  a  great  writer  like  Juvenal,  who 
writes  for  all  time,  each  generation  seems  to  demand 
a  translation  of  its  own,  in  accordance  with  the 
changes  in  its  own  point  of  view  and  the  shifting 
usages  of  language ;  and  each  translator  desires  to 
bring  out  in  his  own  way  the  special  meaning  which 
the  author  has  conveyed  to  him. 

I  have  consulted  all  the  better-known  translations, 
especially  those  of  Mr.  S.  G.  Owen,  Mr.  J.  D.  Lewis, 
and  Messrs.  Strong  and  Leeper;  and  there  are  many 
good  idiomatic  renderings  of  short  phrases  to  be  found 


PREFACE 

in  Mr.  J.  D.  Duff's  excellent  edition  of  Juvenal.  But 
my  greatest  obligation  is  to  a  collection  of  MS.  papers 
on  Juvenal  and  Persius  left  to  me  many  years  ago  by 
my  uncle,  the  late  Professor  William  Ramsay  of  Glas- 
gow University,  whose  prelections  on  Juvenal  were 
much  appreciated.  Among  these  I  have  found  many 
happy  renderings  written  on  the  side  of  a  text  used 
for  class  purposes  ;  and  to  the  same  source  I  owe  much 
of  the  matter  of  the  Introduction,  especially  the  whole 
section  on  the  history  of  the  Roman  Satura.  I  have 
also  derived  much  advantage  from  Professor  Hous- 
man's  critical  edition  of  Juvenal,  and  I  have  to  thank 
him  for  permission  to  make  use  of  his  paraphrase  of 
Sat.  vi.,  11.  O  l-O  30.1  In  translating  Persius  I  have 
been  under  the  greatest  obligation  to  the  well-known 
version  of  Professor  Conington. 

As  it  is  one  of  the  principles  of  this  series  to  print 
the  originals  as  a  whole,  Sals,  ii.,  vi.,  and  ix.,  so 
often  omitted  by  translators,  are  included  with  the 
rest.  They  all  contain  fine  passages,  and  some  of 
Juvenal's  most  powerful  writing  is  to  be  found  in 
Sat.  vi.  The  lines  which  have  to  be  omitted  or 
toned  down  to  meet  modern  taste  are  few  in  num- 
ber, and  it  must  in  fairness  be  acknowledged  that 
although    Juvenal's   realism    is  at   times   extremely 

*  See  note  on  vi.  365,  p.  110. 
vi 


PREFACE 

gross,    it    is    always    repulsive,    never    alluring    or 
prurient,  in  its  tone. 

I  have  found  it  advisable  to  add  summaries  to  the 
Satires  both  of  Juvenal  and  Persius,  so  as  to  make 
clear  in  every  case  the  course  of  the  argument. 
Juvenal's  rhetorical  exuberance  frequently  carries 
him  away  from  his  subject,  and  leads  him  into 
irrelevancies  ;  while  Persius,  in  his  love  for  recondite 
phrasing  and  rapid  transitions,  sometimes  leaves  the 
reader  embarrassed  as  to  his  main  purpose.  Juve- 
nal's sixth  Satire,  to  whose  merits  so  little  attention 
has  been  paid  in  English  editions,  has  been  treated 
somewhat  more  fully  than  the  rest. 

The  text  of  both  the  Juvenal  and  the  Persius  is 
based  upon  Biicheler's  text  of  1893,  which,  as  Mr.  Duff 
points  out,  was  the  first  to  give  a  full  and  trustworthy 
account  of  the  readings  of  P  (the  Codex  Pitkoeamts). 
Any  variation  from  that  text  is  mentioned  in  the 
notes,  together  with  a  statement  of  the  authority  on 
which  it  has  been  adopted.  Bucheler's  edition  was 
re-edited  in  1910,  with  but  few  changes,  by  Dr. 
F.  Leo.  The  most  important  of  these  changes  is  that 
he  now  recognises  as  genuine  the  passage  discovered 
in  1899  by  Mr.  E.  O.  Winstedt  in  the  Bodleian  MS. 

G.  G.  RAMSAY. 

March  1,  1918. 

vii 


CONTENTS 

VAOB 
PREFACE     v 

INTRODUCTION 

LIFE   OF  JUVENAL XI 

LIFE   OF  PERSIUS xxl 

THE  SUPPOSED    OBSCURITY   OF   PERSIUS XXX 

PERSIUS  AND   JUVENAL   COMPARED XXxiii 

THE   8ATURA    OF   ROME XXXvii 

LUCILIAN  SATIRE xhii 

juvenal's  satires  summarised xlviii 

MSS.    OF  JUVENAL lxxiii 

MSS.    OF  PERSIUS lxxvii 

MSS.     OF     JUVENAL     AS      GIVEN     IN      PROFESSOR 

housman's  edition,  1905 lxxxi 

MSS.      OF     PERSIUS     AS     GIVEN     IN     BUECHELER'S 

FOURTH   EDITION   REVISED   BY   F.    LEO,    1910       .       lxxxii 

THE   SATIRES   OF   JUVENAL 

SATIRE   I 2 

SATIRE  II 16 

SATIRE   III «     ' 30 

ix 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 
THE   SATIRES    OF   JUVENAL   {continued) — 

SATIRE   IV 56 

SATIRE   V "8 

SATIRE   VI ^2 

SATIRE   VII 1^6 

SATIRE   VIII 158 

SATIRE   IX ISO 

SATIRE   X 19- 

SATIRE   XI 220 

SATIRE   XII 236 

SATIRE   XIII 246 

SATIRE   XIV 264 

SATIRE  XV 288 

SATIRE  XVI 302 

THE   SATIRES    OF   PERSIUS — 

PROLOGUE 310 

SATIRE   I 312 

SATIRE   II -      • 333 

SATIRE  III 342 

SATIRE  IV 357 

SATIRE   V 365 

SATIRE  VI 390 

INDEX   TO   JUVENAL 405 

INDEX   TO   PERSIUS 414 


INTRODUCTION 

The  Life  of  Juvenal 

The  only  certain  evidence  as  to  the  facts  of 
Juvenal's  life  is  to  be  found  in  casual  allusions  in 
his  own  Satires ;  such  external  authorities  as  there 
are  possess  only  an  uncertain  value,  and  do  not 
even  give  us  the  dates  of  his  birth  and  death.  The 
following  passages  give  us  what  certain  landmarks 
we  possess : — 

(1)  Sat.  iv.  153  refers  to  the  murder  of  the 
Emperor  Domitian,  which  took  place  upon  the 
18th  of  September,  a.d.  96.  Sat.  ii.  29-33  contains 
a  gross  attack  upon  Domitian. 

(2)  Sat.  i.  49,  50  mentions  the  recent  condemna- 
tion of  Marius  Priscus  for  extortion  in  the  province 
of  Africa.  That  trial,  made  famous  by  the  fact  that 
the  younger  Pliny  was  the  chief  prosecutor,  took 
place  in  January,  a.d.  100. 

(3)  The  allusion  to  a  comet  and  an  earthquake  in 
connection  with  Armenian  and  Parthian  affairs  in 
Sat.  vi.  407  has  been  held,  with  some  probability,  to 
refer  to  events  in  the  year  115. 

(4)  Sat.  vii.  begins  with  a  prophecy  that  bright 
days  are  in  store  for  literature,    since  it  has   now 

xi 


INTRODUCTION 

been  assured  of  the  patronage  of  Caesar.  The 
probability  is  that  the  Caesar  thus  referred  to  is 
Hadrian,  who  succeeded  Trajan  in  the  year  a.d.  117. 
The  attempts  to  prove  that  Trajan  was  the  emperor 
intended  have  not  been  successful.  Trajan  was  by 
no  means  a  literary  emperor,  whereas  Hadrian  was 
himself  a  poet  and  surrounded  himself  with  literary 
and  ai-tistic  persons  of  various  kinds. 

(5)  In  Sat.  xiii.  17  Juvenal  describes  Calvinus,  the 
friend  to  whom  the  Satire  is  addressed,  as  one 

qui  tarn  post  terga  reliquit 
Sexaginta  annos  Fonteio  consule  natus. 

There  were  consuls  of  the  name  of  Fonteius  Capito 
in  three  different  years,  a.d.  12,  59,  and  67.  The 
first  date  is  obviously  too  early ;  the  year  referred  to 
is  probably  a.d.  67,  since  in  that  year,  and  not  in 
the  other  two,  the  name  of  Fonteius  stands  first 
in  the  Fasti.     This  would  fix  Sat.  xiii.  to  the  year 

A.D.   127. 

(6)  Lastly,  in  Sat.  xv.  27  : — 

Nos  miranda  quidem  sed  nuper  consule  lunco 
Gesta  super  calidae  referemus  moenia  Copti, 

the  reading  lunco,  now  satisfactorily  established  for 
[unto,  refers  to  Aemilius  luncus,  who  was  consul  in 
the  year  127.  Sat.  xv.  must  therefore  have  been 
written  in  the  year  a.d.  127,  or  shortly  after  it  (imper). 
It  will  be  noted  that  these  dates,  supported  by 
various  other  considerations,  suggest  that  the  Satires 
xii 


INTRODUCTION 

are  numbered  in  the  order  of  their  publication.  This 
view  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  recorded  that  the 
Satires  were  originally  published  in  five  separate 
books ;  the  first  book  consisting  of  Sat.  i.  to  v. 
inclusive,  the  second  of  Sat.  vi.,  the  third  of  Sat.  vii. 
to  ix.,  the  fourth  of  Sat.  x.  to  xii.  inclusive,  and  the 
fifth  of  the  remaining  Satires.  In  the  case  of  Sat.  L, 
however,  it  seems  probable  that  this  Satire,  being  in 
the  nature  of  a  preface,  was  written  after  the  rest  of 
Book  i. 

Such  are  the  only  certain  indications  as  to  date 
which  can  be  discovered  in  Juvenal's  own  words. 
They  suggest  that  the  literary  period  of  his  life 
(apart  from  his  earlier  recitations)  was  embraced 
within  the  reigns  of  the  emperors  Trajan  (a.d. 
98-117)  and  Hadrian  (a.d.  117-138),  probably  not 
extending  to  the  end  of  the  hitter's  reign.  And 
as  in  Sat.  xi.  203  he  seems  to  speak  of  himself  as 
an  old  man,  we  may  perhaps,  with  some  certainty, 
put  his  birth  between  the  yeai-s  a.d.  60  and  70. 

Other  indications  of  a  personal  kind  are  few  and 
insignificant.  When  Umbricius,  on  leaving  Rome, 
bids  good-bye  to  his  old  friend  Juvenal,  he  speaks 
of  the  chance  of  seeing  him  from  time  to  time  when 
he  comes,  for  the  sake  of  his  health,  "  to  his  own 
Aquinum  "  ;  from  which  we  may  fairly  infer  that  the 
Volscian  town  of  Aquinum  was  the  poet's  native 
place. 

This    inference    is    confirmed   by   an   inscription 

xiii 


INTRODUCTION 

on  a  marble  stone,  now  lost,  which  was  found  at 
Aquinum.  The  stone  formed  part  of  an  altar  to 
Ceres ;  and  the  inscription  records  the  fact  that  the 
altar  had  been  dedicated  to  Ceres  at  his  own  cost 
by  one  D.  Junius  Juvenalis,  who  is  described  as  a 
Tribune  in  a  Dalmatian  cohort,  as  a  duumvir  quin- 
quennalis,  and  a  jlamen  of  the  deified  emperor 
Vespasian  (Corp.  Inscr.  Lat.  x.  5382).  It  should  be 
added  that  the  praenomen  of  the  donor  (D.)  was  not 
legible  on  the  inscription,  and  that  only  the  two  first 
letters  of  the  nomen  Junius  could  be  deciphered. 

It  is  not  at  all  certain  that  this  inscription  refers 
to  the  poet  Juvenal.     Apart  from  a  very  doubtful 
statement  in  a  Biography  which  has  yet  to  be  men- 
tioned, there  is  no  evidence  that  Juvenal  ever  served 
in  the  army ;  indeed,  his  comments  on  the  army  in 
Sat.  xvi.,  which  express  a  contempt  for  soldiers  very 
similar  in  kind  to  that  expressed  by  Persius,  almost 
forbid  the  supposition.     His   writings  suggest  that 
he  habitually  lived  in  Rome,  and  make  it  improbable 
that  he  could  at  any  time  of  his  life  have  lived  long 
enough  in  Aquinum  to  enable  him  to  gain  and  fill 
the  important  positions  mentioned  in  the  inscription. 
The   most  we  can  infer  is  that  he  belonged  to  a 
family  of  repute  in  his  native  town,  and  was  himself 
therefore  fairly  representative  of  the  higher  circles 
of  provincial  life. 

In  Sat.  xi.  we  find  Juvenal  in  Rome,  offering  to 
his  friend  Persicus  a   frugal  banquet  to  which  his 

xiv 


INTRODUCTION 

Tiburtine  farm  was  to  contribute  a  fat  kid,  with 
other  farm  produce,  pears,  grapes,  and  apples, 
together  with  asparagus  gathered  in  the  intervals 
of  her  spinning  by  his  bailiff's  wife.1 

A  passage  in  xv.  45  records  the  fact  that  Juvenal 
had  visited  Egypt : — 

luxuria,  quantum  ipse  notavi, 
Barbara  famoso  non  cedit  lurba  Canopo; 

— a  positive  statement  which  cannot  be  put  aside 
because  in  his  fifteenth  Satire  the  poet  makes  a 
geographical  mistake  as  to  the  proximity  of  Ombi  to 
Tentyra,  nor  yet  made  too  much  of  in  connection 
with  the  statement  in  the  Biography  falsely  at- 
tributed to  Suetonius,  to  the  effect  that  Juvenal  had 
been  sent  into  Egypt  in  his  old  age  as  a  form  of 
banishment. 

That  Juvenal  had  received  the  best  education  of 
his  time  and  had  been  trained  in  the  moral  principles 
of  the  Stoics  is  apparent  from  the  whole  tenour 
of  his  teaching.  The  statement  in  xiii.  121-123 
that  he  had  not  studied  the  doctrines  of  the  Cynics, 
Epicureans,  or  Stoics  seems  only  to  refer  to  the 
more  philosophical  parts  of  those  systems. 

There  are  three  passages  in  the  poet  Martial 
(Epp.  vii.  xxiv.  and  xci.  and  Epp.  xn.  xviii.)  in  which 

1  The  idea  that  Juvenal  possessed  a  paternal  estate, 
distinct  from  the  farm  at  Tibur,  seems  to  rest  upon  a 
misconception  of  the  meaning  of  vi.  57. 

XV 
JUV.  A 


INTRODUCTION 

Juvenal  is  named — if  we  presume,  as  seems  certain, 
that  the  Satirist  is  the  person  there  mentioned. 
These  epigrams  show  that  the  two  poets  lived 
on  terms  of  friendship  and  familiarity  with  one 
another,  but  they  throw  no  light  upon  Juvenal's 
personal  history  and  career.  In  the  epigram  vu.  xci. 
written  in  a.d.  93,  Juvenal  is  styled  facundus,  an 
epithet  which  implies  that  by  that  time  Juvenal's 
reputation,  either  as  a  declaimer  or  as  an  author,  was 
established ;  while  in  xn.  xviii.  Martial  contrasts  his 
own  peaceful  and  happy  life  in  a  rural  district  of 
Spain  with  the  noisy,  restless  life  led  by  Juvenal  in 
the  Suburra.  As  Martial's  twelfth  book  was  written 
and  collected  between  the  years  102  and  104,  that 
date  would  correspond  pretty  closely  with  that 
estimated  above  for  the  beginning  of  Juvenal's 
literary  activity.  As  Mr.  Duff  puts  it,  "the  facts  go 
to  prove  that  Martial  ceased  to  write  about  the  time 
that  Juvenal  began." 

Amid  the  scanty  external  evidence  as  to  the  life 
of  Juvenal,  it  is  necessary  to  pay  some  attention  to 
the  statements  made  in  the  old  Biographies  which 
are  attached  to  many  of  the  ancient  manuscripts  of 
Juvenal.  Early  scholars  were  inclined  to  attribute 
these  Biographies,  or  at  least  the  oldest  of  them, 
from  which  the  others  were  copied,  either  to 
Suetonius,  the  author  of  the  Lives  of  the  first 
Twelve  Caesars,  or  to  Valerius  Probus,  a  distin- 
guished grammarian  of  the   second  century.     It  is 

xvi 


INTRODUCTION 

now  generally  admitted  that  there  is  no  ground  for 
these  attributions,  and  that  in  all  probability  the 
earliest  of  them,  from  which  the  others  were  evi- 
dently copied  with  some  difference  of  detail,  are 
not  older  than  the  fourth  century  a.d.  For  all  that, 
they  seem  to  represent,  more  or  less,  an  ancient 
tradition,  and  it  is  worth  while  considering  how  far 
some  of  their  statements  seem  probable  in  them- 
selves, and  fit  in  with  our  other  sources  of  infor- 
mation, or  present  improbabilities  which  cannot 
be  accepted. 

The  oldest  and  best  form  of  the  Biogi-aphy  is  as 
follows  : — 

Vita  D.  Junii  Juvenaus. — Iunius  Iuvenalis,  liber- 
tini  locuplelis  incertum  est  fdius  an  alumnus,  ad  mediam 
fere  aetalem  declamavit  animi  magis  causa  quam  quod 
se  scholae.  aid  foro  piaepararet.  Deinde  paucorum 
versuum  satyra  non  absurde  composila  in  Paridem 
pantomimum  poelamque  [eius]  semenslribus  mililiolis1 
tumentem  [hoc  ?]  genus  scripturae  industriose  excoluit. 
Et  tamen  din  ne  modico  quidem  auditorio  quicquam 
committers  est  ausus.  Mox  magna  frequentia  magnoque 
successu  bis  ac  ter  audilus  est,  id  ea  quoque  quae  prima 
fecerat  inferciret  novis  scriplis  : 

1  The  allusion  is  to  honorary  appointments  to  the  military 
tribunate  (imaginariae  militiae  genus,  Suet.  Claud.  25),  a 
system  instituted  by  -Claudius  in  order  that  the  holder 
might  obtain  equestrian  rank.  The  word  militiola  means  "a 
trumpery  period  of  military  service." 

xvi? 

I  2 


INTRODUCTION 

quod  nor-  dant  proceres,  dabil  histrio.      Tu  Camerinos 

Et  Bareas,  tu  nobilium  magna  atria  curas  ? 

Praefeclos  Pelopea  facit,  Philomela  tribunos. 

(vii.  90-92.) 

Erat  turn  in  deliciis  aulae  histrio  mullique  fautorum  eius 
coltidie  provekebantur.  Venit  ergo  luvenalis  in  sus- 
picionem,  quasi  iempora  figurate  notasset,  ac  statim  per 
honorem  militiae  quamqua?n  octogenarius  urbe  summotus 
est  missusque  ad  praefecturam  cohortis  in  extrema  parte 
lendentis  Aegypti.  hi  supplicii  genus  placuit,  ut  lem 
alque  ioculari  delicto  par  esset.  Verum  intra  brevissimum 
tempus  angore  et  taedio  periit. 

The  first  sentence  of  this  Life  contains  no  infor- 
mation that  we  are  not  prepared  to  accept.  Nothing 
is  more  probahle  than  that  Juvenal  had  long 
practised  himself  in  the  art  of  declamation,  and 
only  embarked  on  publication  when  his  reputation 
was  established,  and  he  felt  confident  of  success. 
His  recitations  would  at  first  be  delivered  to  select 
coteries  of  congenial  friends,  in  whose  company  he 
would  forge  out  and  perfect  his  biting  epigrams, 
just  as  Tacitus  is  supposed  to  have  done  with 
his  famous  senlentiae.  It  is  quite  probable,  therefore, 
that  such  a  passage  as  that  quoted  from  Sat.  vii. 
may  originally  have  formed  part  of  a  private  recita- 
tion, and  have  afterwards  been  incorporated  in  the 
more  finished  edition  of  the  Satire  when  published. 
But  in  explaining  the  rest  of  the  Life  the  early 
commentators  were  sadly  at  fault. 

xviii 


INTRODUCTION 

The  person  satirised  in  the  passage  quoted  in  the 
Life  was  a  dancer  of  the  name  of  Paris,  who  had 
just  been  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  poet 
Statius.  " A  monstrous  thing/'  says  Juvenal,  "that 
after  charming  the  town  with  his  beautiful  voice, 
Statius  would  have  to  starve  if  he  did  not  sell  to 
Paris  his  unpublished  Agave  "  :  Esurit,  intactam  Paiidi 
nisi  vendit  Agaven  (vii.  87). 

Now  there  were  two  famous  dancers  of  the  name 
of  Paris,  to  cither  of  whom  the  passage  in  Sat.  vii. 
might  apply.  The  one  nourished,  and  was  put  to 
death,  in  the  reign  of  Nero ;  while  the  other  met 
a  similar  fate  under  Domitian.  The  early  com- 
mentators on  the  Biography  took  it  for  granted, 
naturally  enough,  that  the  Paris  mentioned  in  the 
Biography  was  the  same  Paris  that  is  mentioned  by 
Juvenal  himself  in  Sat.  vii.  But  the  dates  given 
above  for  the  life  of  Juvenal  prove  conclusively 
that  neither  of  the  artists  who  bore  the  name  of 
Paris  could  possibly  have  brought  about  the  banish- 
ment of  Juvenal  in  the  manner  stated.  The  later  of 
the  two  was  put  to  death  in  the  reign  of  Domitian ; 
and  it  has  been  shown  above  that  the  period  of 
Juvenal's  literary  activity  did  not  begin,  and  that 
Sat.  vii.  was  not  published,  till  some  years  after  the 
death  of  that  Emperor.  All  attempts  to  bring  the 
banishment  within  the  period  of  Domitian 's  reign 
have  broken  down. 

But  though  the  story  of  Juvenal's  banishment  as 

xix 


INTRODUCTION 

usually  told  cannot  possibly  be  true,  it  has  been  in- 
geniously suggested  that  the  words  of  the  Biography 
may  be  read  in  such  away  as  to  give  it  some  measure 
of  probability.  Having  stated  that  Juvenal  had 
scored  a  success  by  his  Satire  against  Paris — a  Satire 
evidently  declaimed  among  private  friends — we  are 
told  that  he  was  subsequently  encouraged  to  insert  the 
passage  among  his  published  works.  The  biography 
then  goes  on  :  Erat  turn  in  deliciis  aulae  histrio,  mul- 
tique  fautoram  eius  cottidie  provehebantur.  Venit  ergo 
Iuvenalis  in  suspicionem  quasi  tempora  Jigurate  notasset. 
Filled  with  resentment  at  this  attack,  the  histrio 
prevailed  upon  the  emperor  to  send  Juvenal  into 
exile  in  Egypt  under  pretence  of  a  military  com- 
mand, where  he  died  shortly  after  of  a  broken  heart. 
Now  we  are  not  obliged  to  translate  the  words 
erat  turn  in  deliciis  aulae  histrio  by  "  The  actor  [i.e. 
Paris]  was  at  that  time  a  favourite  of  the  Court." 
The  words  indeed  would  more  naturally  mean 
"  There  was  at  that  time  an  actor  who  was  a  favourite 
at  Court,"  who  resented  the  attack  upon  a  member 
of  his  own  profession  as  an  indirect  attack  upon 
himself.  The  words  which  follow  show  that  the 
offence  did  not  consist  of  the  personal  attack  on 
Paris,  but  that  the  attack  on  Paris  was  considered  to 
contain  a  sidelong  indirect  attack  (quasi  Jigurate 
?wtassci)  upon  some  other  actor.  Such  an  incident 
is  not  at  all  likely  to  have  happened  in  the  reign  of 
either  Nerva  or  Trajan,  but  it  may  well  have  occurred 

xx 


INTRODUCTION 

under  Hadrian,  who  became  emperor  in  a.d.  119. 
Hadrian  himself  was  a  patron  of  actors  and  artistes 
of  every  kind,  and  he  was  quite  a  person  who  might 
have  taken  offence  at  a  supposed  insult  offered  to 
one  of  his  favourites.  The  words  of  Sidonius  Apol- 
linaris,  in  the  sixth  century,  who  says  of  Juvenal 
irati  fuit  histrionis  exul,  show  how  steadily  the 
tradition  of  the  banishment  had  maintained  itself. 
There  is  a  certain  convergence  of  dates  in  Juvenal's 
life  towards  the  year  119;  and  though  the  above 
explanation  can  only  be  looked  upon  as  a  conjecture, 
it  presents  a  story  which  may  not  impossibly  be 
true,  while  the  traditional  version  of  the  story  is 
demonstrably  false. 

Life  of  Persius 

We  know  from  che  Eusebian  chronicle  that  the 
poet  A.  Persius  Flaccus  was  born  in  the  year  a.d.  34, 
somewhat  more  than  two  years  before  the  death 
of  the  Emperor  Tiberius,  and  that  he  died  in  the 
year  62.  He  thus  lived  through  the  reigns  of  Caius 
and  Claudius  and  the  first  eight  years  of  Nero.  For 
other  information  as  to  his  life  and  circumstances 
our  sole  source  of  information  is  an  ancient  Biography 
prefixed  to  many  of  the  manuscripts  of  Persius. 
This  Biography  many  scholars  attributed  to  Suetonius, 
the  biographer  of  the  first  twelve  Caesars,  on  the 
ground    that    the    lexicographer    Suidas   says   that 

xxr 


INTRODUCTION 

that  author  wrote  a  book  De  Poetis,  of  which  the 
ancient  biographies  of  Terence  and  Horace  are 
supposed  to  have  formed  a  part.  In  the  oldest 
MSS.,  however,  the  Biography  of  Persius  is  described 
as  having  been  taken  from  a  commentary  of  Probus 
Valerius,  so  that  we  may  with  some  probability 
attribute  this  Biography  either  to  the  famous  gram- 
marian of  that  name,  who  lived  in  the  reign  of  Nero, 
or  to  one  or  other  of  the  grammarians  who  bore  the 
same  name.  Such  as  it  is,  this  authority  is  the  best 
that  we  possess  ;  and  as  it  is  evidently  of  ancient 
origin,  and  deals  with  simple  facts  with  regard  to 
which  there  could  be  no  motive  for  falsification,  we 
may  with  some  confidence  accept  its  statements  as 
authentic. 

We  are  told  that  the  poet  was  born  at  Volaten-ae 
on  the  4th  of  December,  a.d.  34,  and  that  he  died  of 
an  affection  of  the  stomach  on  the  24th  of  November, 
a.d.  62.  He  was  a  Roman  Eques,  of  good  position,  and 
became  heir  to  a  considerable  fortune.  His  father  died 
when  he  was  only  six  years  old;  and  though  his  mother 
married  again,  becoming  a  widow  for  the  second 
time,  she  attended  carefully  to  his  education,  first  at 
Volaterrae,  and  then  removing  him  in  his  twelfth  year 
to  Rome.  There  he  went  through  the  usual  course 
of  instruction  for  youths  in  his  position,  attending 
the  lectures,  first  of  the  distinguished  grammarian 
Remmius  Palaemon,  and  afterwards  those  of  the 
rhetorician  Virginius  Flavus.  At  the  age  of  sixteen 
xxii 


INTRODUCTION 

he  was  put  under  the  charge  of  the  Stoic  philosopher 
L.  Annaeus  Cornutus,  who  became  his  guide,  philo- 
sopher, and  friend,  and  towards  whom,  in  one  of  the 
most  charming  passages  in  his  Satires,  he  pours  forth 
his  feelings  in  terms  of  the  liveliest  gratitude  and 
affection  (Sat.  v.  30-51). 

Though  living  in  a  small  domestic  circle,  in  terms 
of  closest  intimacy  with  his  mother,  his  sister,  and 
his  aunt,  he  seems  to  have  been  admitted  to  the  best 
literary  society  of  the  time,  and  especially  of  persons 
connected  with  the  Stoic  School.  One  of  his 
earliest  friends  was  the  lyric  poet  Caesius  Bassus  ; 
he  was  intimate  with  the  famous  Paetus  Thrasea, 
whose  wife,  the  heroic  Arria,  was  a  kinswoman  of 
his  own  ;  he  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  Lucan,  who 
was  a  great  admirer  of  his  works,  declaring  haec  vera 
poemata  esse.  He  was  also  acquainted  with  Seneca, 
though,  as  might  be  expected,  he  is  said  not  to  have 
admired  his  character.  He  left  his  library,  including 
his  own  Satires,  with  a  sum  of  money,  to  Cornutus, 
who  accepted  the  library  and,  after  making  a  few 
corrections,  handed  over  the  editing  of  the  Satires  to 
his  friend  Caesius  Bassus.  We  are  told  that  he 
wrote  slowly,  as  might  easily  be  discovered  from  the 
style  of  the  Satires  themselves.  He  was  of  a  pleasing 
appearance,  had  the  most  gentle  manners,  was  pure 
and  temperate  in  his  life,  and  exemplary  in  his 
domestic  relations.  The  Biography  ends  with  some 
dubious  assertions,  probably  added  by  a  later  hand, 

xxiii 


INTRODUCTION 

among  which  is  the  baseless  idea  which  possessed 
his  early  commentators,  that  the  main  object  of  the 
First  Satire  was  to  ridicule  the  poetical  productions 
of  the  Emperor  Nero. 

That  Persius  was  born  at  Volaterrae  in  Etruria 
rests  on  the  authority  of  the  Biography,  as  also  of  the 
Eusebian  chronicle ;  yet  learned  commentaries  have 
been  written  to  wrest  the  words  of  Sat.  vi.  6-7  from 
their  natural  meaning  in  the  endeavour  to  prove 
that  the  poet  was  born  at  the  town  of  Luna  on  the 
Gulf  of  Spezzia,  on  the  Genoese  coast,  near  the 
famous  marble  quarries  of  Carrara.  Having  migrated 
to  that  delicious  spot  for  the  winter,  Persius  writes  : 

mihi  nunc  Ligus  ora 
Intcpet,  hibematque  meum  mare. 

But  the  words  meum  mare  cannot  be  made  to  bear 
the  meaning  of  a  native  shore  ;  and,  even  if  they 
did,  the  phrase  might  well  be  used  of  the  sea  that 
beats  on  the  shores  of  Etruria,  in  which  province  the 
poet  was  born. 

The  period  of  the  early  years  of  Persius  marks 
in  a  peculiar  manner  the  change  which  had  taken 
place  in  the  general  system  of  education  as  formerly 
pursued  at  Rome  with  a  view  to  the  needs  of  actual 
life.  Tin's  change  was  the  direct  result  of  the 
dowDfall  of  the  old  constitution,  and  the  substitution 
of  an  all-pervading  despotism  for  the  free  play  of 
public  life    which  had    characterised  and    ennobled 

xxiv 


INTRODUCTION 

the  fine  days  of  the  Republic.  The  change  exer- 
cised a  most  baneful  influence  on  the  minds  and 
tastes  of  the  Roman  people,  and  its  blighting  effects 
soon  became  all  too  conspicuous  in  the  rapid  decline 
of  their  literature. 

It  would  be  hard  to  imagine  a  system  of  education 
more  practical  and  more  stimulating  for  the  youth 
of  a  great  and  free  country,  preparing  itself  for 
the  task  of  civilising  and  dominating  the  world, 
than  that  which  was  pursued  in  Rome  after  the 
roughness  and  ignorance  of  the  Latin  warrior  had 
been  softened  and  enlightened  by  acquaintance 
with  the  art  and  literature  of  Greece.  The  Dialogus 
of  Tacitus  has  left  us  a  detailed  account  of  that 
system  as  followed  by  those  who  looked  forward  to 
taking  a  part  in  the  public  life  of  the  time.  For 
such  young  men  some  excellence  in  public  speaking 
was  a  matter  of  absolute  necessity.  Careful  train- 
ing at  home  would  be  followed  by  what  we  might 
call  a  course  of  secondary  education,  embracing 
Grammar,  Rhetoric  and  Literature.  To  this  would 
be  added  a  course  of  Philosophy,  for  which  the 
more  eager  spirits  would  repair  to  Athens,  which 
had  now  become  the  Universitjr  of  the  world.  His 
preliminary  education  thus  completed,  the  youth  of 
fuil  age  would  be  put  under  the  patronage  of  some 
leading  statesman  of  the  time.  Taking  his  stand 
beside  his  patron  when  receiving  in  his  atrium  the 
visits  of  his  friends,  he  would  there  hear  discussions 

XXV 


INTRODUCTION 

on  all  the  current  topics  of  the  day.  He  would 
accompany  his  patron  to  the  Law  Courts,  watch 
the  cases  that  were  being  tried,  and  hear  ex- 
perienced comments  upon  them,  as  well  as  upon  the 
speeches  that  had  been  delivered.  After  this 
initiation  into  public  affairs,  the  young  man  would 
have  to  serve  his  time  in  the  army — a  period  of 
20  years  in  the  infantry,  or  10  years  in  the  cavalry, 
seems  to  have  been  originally  exacted — after  which 
he  was  fully  qualified  to  enter  upon  public  life  on 
his  own  account. 

It  is  little  to  be  wondered  at  that  such  a  traininsr, 
pursued  in  an  atmosphere  of  political  freedom, 
should  have  achieved  great  results  ;  and  we  may  say 
with  some  confidence,  leaving  moral  considerations 
aside,  that  the  number  of  great  men  who  flourished 
in  Rome  during  the  last  century  of  the  Republic — 
the  period  during  which  the  effects  of  the  above 
system  made  themselves  felt — whether  as  warriors, 
statesmen,  orators,  historians,  or  poets — scarcely  finds 
a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

But  when  Augustus  had  succeeded  in  crushing 
all  his  rivals,  and  establishing  in  place  of  a  free 
Republic  a  system  of  pure  though  carefully-veiled 
autocracy,  the  results  soon  began  to  make  them- 
selves felt.  Virgil  and  Horace,  enamoured  of  the 
charms  of  peace  after  the  horrors  of  civil  war, 
and  persuading  themselves  that  Augustus  was  the 
natural  successor,  representative,  and  restorer  of  all 

xxvi 


INTRODUCTION 

that  was  best  in  ancient  Rome,  succeeded  for  a  while 
in  investing  the  personal  government  of  Augustus 
with  a  poetic  atmosphere  which  corresponded  little 
with  its  real  nature.     But  they  had  no  successors. 
Reposing  gladly  under  the  paternal  sway  of  Augustus 
during  his  later  years,   Rome  lost  her  ideals.     She 
was  peaceful,  prosperous,  and  contented ;  the  fiery 
spirit    of  the   old    Republican   days    gradually   died 
away,  and  the  majority  of  the  citizens,  finding  that 
servility  was  the  surest  road  to  advancement,  "  pre- 
ferred the  security  of  the  present  to  the  hazards  of 
the  past."  1     The  patronage  accorded  by  Augustus 
to  men  of  letters  may  have  done  something  to  arrest 
the  decay  of  literature  ;  but  with  the  close  of  the 
reign  of  Augustus  and  the  accession  of  Tiberius  the 
truth  could  no  longer  be  concealed  that  the  days 
of  liberty  were  ovei-,  and  the  natural  results  followed 
in    every  department   of  human  life   and   thought. 
Deprived  of  the  inspiration  of  reality,  literature  and 
oratory  descended  from  the   public  to  the   private 
stage,  and  lost  alike  their  meaning  and  their  manli- 
ness.    Pursuits  which  could  only  be  followed  with 
danger  soon  ceased  to  be  followed  at  all,  and  instead 
of  being  trained  by  public  men  among  public  con- 
cerns, the  youth  were  now  taught  to  exercise  them- 
selves in  the  schools  of  the  rhetoricians,  where  they 
learnt  to  carry  on  subtle  disputations  on  topics  wholly 
remote  from  common  life. 

1  Tac.  Ann.  I.  ii. 

xxvii 


INTRODUCTION 

For  the  decline    of  literature,  there  is  no  more 
authentic  testimony  than  that  of  Persius ;  and  yet 
he  seems  to  be  quite  unconscious  of  the  true  causes 
of  that  decline.     His  first  Satire  fills  an  important 
gap  in  the  history  of  Roman  literature.     It  contains 
an  elaborate  attack  upon  the  poetry  and  the  poeti- 
cal methods  of  his  own   day,  whose  weaknesses  he 
connects,  in  true  Stoic  fashion,  not  with  the  loss  of 
public  freedom,  but  with  the  decay  of  morality  : — 
Rome  has  lost,  he  tells  us,  all  sense  of  what  is  good 
or  bad,  what  is  manly  or  mawkish,  in  literature ;  she 
now  loves  the  turgid  and  the  grandiloquent;  dandy 
poets,  after  careful  preparation,  inflame  the  passions 
of  their  audience  with  poems  of  a  licentious  cast. 
Others,  with  similar  affectations  of  dress  and  manner, 
bring  down  the  applause  of  the  house  with  senti- 
mental mythological  ditties,  and  in  their  efforts  for 
smoothness  lose  all  manliness  of  tone.     Many  buy 
the  coveted  commendation  by  gifts  of  dainties  or  old 
clothes.     Others  again  affect  archaisms,  or  revel  in 
bombastic  mouthings  which  would  make  Virgil  turn 
in  his  grave.     No  orator  can  defend  a  client  accused 
of  crime  without  using  all  the  elaborate  figures  of 
rhetoric ;  all  simple  writing,  all  honest  criticism  have 
disappeared ;  "  I  at  least  must  tell  the  truth,  and  I 
must  write  down  Rome  as  an  ass !  "  (Sat.  i.  121.) 

Such  is  the  outspoken  verdict  of  Persius  on  the 
poetry  and  oratory  in  his  day ;  yet  never  for  a 
moment  does  he  hint  at  its  true  cause  ;  never  once 
xxviii 


INTRODUCTION 

does  he  heave  a  sigh — even  a  despairing  sigh  like 
that  of  Luean1 — over  the  loss  of  public  liberty. 
And  yet  he  had  two  admirable  opportunities  for 
suggesting  the  topic.  The  opening  words  of  the 
4th  Satire  (Rem  popidi  tractas?)  suggest  a  political 
discourse.  "  What  are  the  qualifications,"  he  asks, 
"  with  which  the  budding  statesman  should  provide 
himself?"  But  the  question  is  never  answered; 
the  Satire  turns  out  to  be  a  purely  abstract  dis- 
quisition on  the  subject  of  self-knowledge,  dressed 
up  with  a  pretended  application  to  the  case  of 
Alcibiades. 

Not  less  remarkable  is  the  avoidance  of  all  refer- 
ence to  public  life  in  the  5th  Satire.  The  main  subject 
of  that  poem  is  that  of  human  freedom,  being  an 
expansion  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Stoics  that  all 
men  (Stoics  of  course  excepted)  are  slaves.  Here,  if 
anywhere,  was  the  opportunity  for  pointing,  directly 
or  indirectly,  to  the  state  of  political  servitude  into 
which  Rome  had  fallen.  But  no  trace  of  such  an 
idea  is  to  be  found.  From  first  to  last  the  subject 
is  treated  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  schools,  the 
sole  question  raised  being  that  of  the  command  by 
the  individual  of  his  own  soul.  Even  when  the  poet 
touches  on  the  subject  of  Roman  citizenship,  it  is  to 
dismiss  with  scoi*n  the  idea  that  it  conferred  any 
kind  of  freedom  worth  having : — 

1  plus  est  quam  vita   talusque  Quod  perit  IPharsalia,  vii. 
640). 

xxix 


INTRODUCTION 

Hen  sleriles  veri,  quibus  una  Quirilem 
Vertigo  facil  !   (v.  75.) 

Not  one  word  is  there  in  Persius,  from  beginning 
to  end,  that  recognises  the  change  that  had  passed 
over  public  life  in  Rome,  or  of  the  results  of  that 
change  on  the  morals  and  intellects  of  the  time. 

The  Supposed  Obscurity  of  Persius 

It  has  been  the  fashion  to  characterise  Persius  as 
obscure,  but  the  epithet  is  hardly  deserved.  He 
is  undoubtedly  difficult;  his  mode  of  expressing 
himself  is  often  peculiar  and  fantastic.  There  is  a 
certain  preciosity  in  his  choice  of  phrases  ;  he  is 
sometimes  crabbed  and  tortuous,  and  in  his  desire 
for  compression  he  occasionally,  especially  in  his 
many  repetitions  of  Horatian  ideas,  seeks  to  obtain 
extra  force  by  blending  two  ideas  into  one  without 
giving  full  expression  to  either.  He  is  often  ellip- 
tical ;  his  dialogue  is  abrupt  and  hard  to  follow. 
He  is  certainly  difficult  as  a  whole,  and  his 
style  is  one  which  needs  to  be  wrestled  with  ;  but 
with  a  little  careful  attention  the  sequence  of  his 
thought  can  always  be  discovered,  and,  though  indi- 
vidual passages  may  cause  embarrassment,  he  cannot 
as  a  whole  be  justly  charged  with  obscurity.  His 
contemporaries  did  not  find  him  obscure.  The 
Biography  tells  us  that   no    sooner   was   the    book 

XXX 


INTRODUCTION 

published  than  it  became  the  rage  (editum  librum 
continuo  mirari  homines  el  diripere  cocperunl).  Martial 
vouches  for  its  popularity  : — 

Saepius  in  libro  memoratur  Persius  uno 
Quam  levis  in  tota  Marsus  Amazonide. 

iv.  xxix.  7-8. 

And  the  careful  critic  Quintilian,  tells  us  : 

Midtnm  et  verae  gloriae,  quatnuis  uno  libro,  Persius 
meruit  (Inst.  Or.  x.  i.  94). 

If,  then,  the  obscurity  of  Persius  was  unknown  to 
his  contemporaries,  we  must  look  to  some  other 
cause  for  its  discovery;  and  this  seems  to  be  pro- 
vided by  what  is  evidently  a  spurious  addition  to 
the  Biography,  to  the  effect  that  the  first  Satire  of 
Persius  was  intended  as  an  attack  upon  Nero  and 
his  poetical  efforts.  The  original  text  of  i.  121,  we 
are  told,  ran  thus  : — 

Auricidas  asini  Mida  rex  habet  ; 

but  alarmed  by  the  boldness  of  these  lines,  which 
seemed  to  point  too  plainly  to  Nero,  Cornutus 
emended  the  line,  making  it  read  (as  in  the  now 
received  text) 

Auricidas  asini  quis  non  habet  ? 

a  reading  which,  as  we  have  already  seen,  gives 
point  and  meaning  to  the  whole  Satire. 

xxxi 

JUV. 


INTRODUCTION 

But  the  idea  that  Nero  was  the  object  of  attack 
in  the  1st  Satire  could  not  be  allowed  to  drop  ;  it 
was   soon    developed    by    the    commentators,    and 
became  parent  of  the  idea  that  Persius  was  obscure. 
Supposed    references  to  Nero  were  found   to   lurk 
in  every  line  of  Sat.  i. ;  and  it  was  even  discovered 
that  Nero  was  also  the  covert  object  of  attack  in  the 
4th  Satire — an  idea  which  has  not  even  yet  departed 
from  the  pages  of  some  of  our    modern    commen- 
tators.    The  height  of  absurdity  was  reached  by  the 
Scholiast  who,  when  commenting  on  the  four  lines 
ridiculed  in  Sat.  i.  99-103,  informs  us  verba  Neronis 
sunt ;  to  which  a  more  recent  annotator  added  that 
the  lines  are    taken  from   a   tragedy,  supposed   to 
be  written  by  Nero,  called  the  Bacchantes.     No  such 
play  has  ever  been  heard  of;  no  tragic   play  that 
was  ever  written  would  contain  passages  in  dactylic 
hexameters ;  yet  we  are  actually  asked  to  believe 
that  a  critic  like  Cornutus,  so  anxious  to  score  out  a 
harmless  reference  to  King  Midas  for  fear  that  Nero 
might  take  it  to  himself,  allowed  four  whole  lines, 
known  by  everybody  to  have  formed  part  of  a  play 
of  Nero's,  to  stand  uncorrected  !     Thus  the  original 
idea  on  which  the  charge  of  obscurity  mainly  rested 
falls  to  the  ground,  and  we  may  apply  his  own  motto 
to  the  interpreting  of  his  difficulties — nee  te  quaesi- 
veris  extra. 


XXXll 


INTRODUCTION 

Persius  and  Juvenal  Compared 

The  great  difference  between  Persius  and  Juvenal 
is  this,  that  Persius  was  a  poet  of  the  closet,  a 
student,  a  recluse,  full  of  youthful  enthusiasm,  livino- 

•  'to 

m  a  retired  atmosphere  under  the  shelter  of  lovino- 
female  relatives,  and  with  no  knowledge  of  the 
outside  life  of  the  world  beyond  what  could  be 
gathered  from  the  lectures  of  his  Stoic  instructors. 
His  world  is  not  the  living  world  of  Rome,  but  the 
world  of  books ;  his  incidents,  his  characters,  are 
chiefly  taken  from  Horace,  whose  virile  expressions 
he  delights  to  serve  up  in  some  novel  and  recondite 
form,  or  from  the  stock  examples  of  the  Schools. 

Juvenal,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  realist  of  the 
realists ;  he  grapples  with  the  real  things  of  life, 
and  derives  all  his  inspiration  from  the  doings  of  the 
men  and  women  of  his  own  day.  He  belonged  to 
the  generation  which  had  suffered  from  the  enor- 
mities of  Caligula,  Claudius  and  Nero ;  he  had  pro- 
bably himself  witnessed  the  concluding  and  worst 
phases  of  the  reign  of  Nero,  and  had  lived  through 
the  whole  of  the  gloomy  tyranny  of  Domitian.  He 
thus  knew  what  Rome  was  in  the  period  of  her 
worst  corruption.  Impregnated  with  the  moral 
teaching  of  the  Stoics,  he  was  no  mere  repeater  of 
the  commonplaces  of  the  Schools.  An  ardent  ad- 
mirer of  the  simple  and  hardy  virtues  of  ancient 
Rome,  he  holds  up  a  mirror  to   every  part  of  the 

xxxiii 

c  2 


INTRODUCTION 

private  life  of  the  Rome  of  his  day,  and  by  the  most 
caustic  and  trenchant  invective  seeks  to  shame  her 
out  of  her  vices.  He  was  thus  eminently  fitted  on 
the  ground  of  personal  experience  to  describe  the 
manners  of  Imperial  Rome  at  the  period  of  her 
worst  corruption,  and  long  practice  had  put  in  his 
hands  a  weapon  which  enabled  him  to  castigate 
them  with  matchless  power  and  severity. 

Juvenal's  pictures  are  doubtless  exaggerated ;  all 
brilliant  rhetoric  is  more  or  less  overstrained,  and 
the  peculiar  doctrines  of  Stoicism  naturally  lent 
themselves  to  paradox  and  exaggeration.  But  apart 
from  Stoicism,  there  are  certain  fundamental  preju- 
dices in  Juvenal's  mind  which,  though  honestly 
entertained,  and  natural  in  one  who  was  always 
looking  back  to  the  worthies  of  old  Rome  for 
examples,  are  pressed  upon  us  with  a  frequency 
and  an  emphasis  which  seem  excessive.  His  belief 
in  the  virtue  of  primitive  times ;  his  hatred  of  the 
foreigner,  especially  one  coming  from  Greece  and 
the  East ;  his  tirades  against  wealth  and  the  wealthy, 
and  his  suggestion  that  wealth  is  always  acquired  by 
unworthy  means  ;  his  laudation  of  mere  poverty ; 
his  incapacity  to  see  any  object  in  trade  except  that 
of  self-enrichment,  or  any  value  at  all  in  humble 
or  menial  occupations,  however  useful  to  the  com- 
munity {Sat.  iii.  71-2)— all  these  ideas  belong  to 
what  we  may  call  the  old  Roman  part  of  Juvenal's 
prepossessions.      They   serve    to    account    for    the 

xxxiv 


INTRODUCTION 

singular  want  of  proportion  which  is  to  be  observed 
in  some  of  his  moral  judgments,  and  they  have  to 
be  reckoned  with  in  estimating  the  value  of  his 
censures. 

With  these   modifying   elements   in  view,  it  has 
often  been  asked,   How   far    can    we  depend  upon 
the  denunciations  of  Juvenal  as  presenting  a  faithful 
picture  of   the    Rome    of   his    day?     His   sincerity 
cannot  be  questioned.     It  is  impossible,  as  we  read 
through    his    satires,   not    to   feel    that    he    speaks 
what  in  his  conscience  he  believes  to  be  the  truth, 
and  appraises  everything  and  everybody  in  accord- 
ance with  the  standard    of  morality  which  he  has 
accepted   as    his    guide    in   life.       His    pictures    of 
Rome,  and  of  life  in  Rome,  are  so  vivid,  so  full  of 
characteristic   detail,  that   they  carry  with    them  a 
conviction  of  their  fidelity ;  while  his  shrewd  know- 
ledge of  human  nature,  and   the  truly  noble  lines 
on  which  he  lays  down  some  of  the  great  principles 
of  human  conduct — many  of  them  in  harmony  with 
the  best  ideas  of  modern   times — make  us   feel   a 
general  confidence  in  his  moral  judgments. 

But  we  have  more  than  internal  evidence  to  rely 
upon.  The  poet  Martial,  who  was  a  contemporary 
and  friend  of  Juvenal,  lived  through  the  very  period 
from  which  Juvenal's  sketches  are  taken.  His 
epigrams  deal  with  the  same  topics  of  social  life 
which  form  the  staple  of  Juvenal's  satires.  The 
Rome    of   Martial    is    the   Rome    of  Juvenal.      He 

xxxv 


INTRODUCTION 

describes,  in  the  minutest  detail,  the  same  vices  and 
the  same  manner  of  living ;  and  the  correspondence 
between  them  acquires  a  double  force  from  the  fact 
that  the  two  authors  looked  at  these  same  things 
from  a  totally  different  angle.  Juvenal  was  a 
moralist ;  he  regarded  the  vices  and  follies  of  his 
day  as  affording  material  for  reprobation ;  Martial 
looked  upon  the  same  facts  as  affording  material 
for  quips  and  epigrams.  Juvenal  hardly  ever  casts 
off  the  attitude  of  a  preacher ;  Martial  gives  an 
identical  picture  of  Roman  life  without  a  touch  ot 
moral  indignation. 

But  although  we  cannot  but  accept  Juvenal's 
account  of  the  corruption  of  his  day  as  true  in  the 
main,  it  does  not  follow  that  it  was  true  of  all 
Rome,  and  that  there  was  no  reverse  side  to  the 
picture.  We  know  from  Pliny,  Seneca,  and  other 
writers,  that  there  were  many  quiet,  thoughtful  and 
well-conducted  homes  in  Rome,  in  which  a  high 
level  of  morality  was  reached,  which  had  no  share 
in  the  corruptions  of  the  time,  and  were  preparing 
the  ground  for  that  period  of  philosophical  reflec- 
tion and  moral  regeneration  which  distinguished 
the  second  century.  We  may,  therefore,  console 
ourselves  by  the  reflection  that  the  castigations  of 
Juvenal,  though  justified  on  the  whole,  referred 
mainly  to  what  might  be  called  the  seamy  side  of 
Roman  life — a  side  to  which  some  parallel  may  be 
found  in  our  own  boasted  centres  of  civilization. 

xxx  vi 


INTRODUCTION 

Juvenal  was  no  politician  ;  he  never  casts  an  eye 
on  the  political  conditions  of  his  day.  He  is  as 
blind  as  Persius  to  the  effects  on  Roman  life  and 
character  of  the  loss  of  public  freedom.  Though 
a  passionate  admirer  of  the  Republican  heroes  ot 
old  Rome,  he  never  expends  a  sigh  upon  the  down- 
fall of  the  Republic ;  he  has  none  of  the  belated 
and  despairing  republicanism  which  inspires  the 
sonorous  hexameters  of  Lucan.  He  does  not  hesi- 
tate to  dwell  on  the  crimes  and  vices  of  individual 
emperors ;  but  he  accepts  their  rule  as  a  matter  of 
course.  He  never  connects  the  autocratic  character 
of  the  government  with  the  degradation  of  the 
Roman  people  which  he  deplores.  He  is  essen- 
tially the  moralist  of  private  life  ;  perhaps  the  only 
distinctly  political  observation  that  can  be  discovered 
in  his  satires  is  when  he  declares  that  Rome  was 
free  in  the  daj's  when  she  called  Cicero  the  "  Father 
of  his  Country  "  : 

Sed  Roma  parentem, 
Roma  palrem  patriae  Ciceronem  libera  dixit. 

(viii.  243-4.) 

The  Salura  of  Rome 

The  classical  passage  on  Roman  Satura  is  to  be 
found  in  Quintilian,  Inst.  Orat.  X.  i.  93-95  :  — 

Satura  quidem  tota  nostra  est,  in  qua  primus  i?isignem 
laudem  adeptus  Lucilius  quosdam  ita  deditos  sibi  adhuc 

xxxvii 


INTRODUCTION 

habet  amatores  ut  eum  non  eiusdem  modo  operis  auctoribus 
sed  omnibus  poetis  praeferre  non  dubitent  .  .  . 

After  comparing  Lucilius  with  Horace,  he  pro- 
ceeds to  say  : — 

Multum  et  verae  gloriae  quamvis  uno  libro  Persius 
meruit.  Sunt  clari  hodieque  et  qui  olim  nominabuntur. 
Alterum  Mud  etiam  prius  saturae  genus,  sed  non  sola 
carminum  varietate  mixtum,  condidit  Terenlius  Varro, 
vir  Romanorum  eruditissimus.  Plurimos  hie  libros  et 
divitissimos  composuit,  perilissimus  linguae  Latinae  et 
omnis  antiquilalis  el  rerum  Graecarum  noslraramque, 
plus  tamen  scientiae  collaturus  quam  eloquentiae. 

To  this  we  may  add  the  testimony  of  the  gram- 
marian Diomedes  (fourth-fifth  century ),  p.  483  : — 

Satura  dicitur  carmen  apttd  Romanos,  non  apud 
Graecos,  maledicum  et  ad  carpenda  hominum  vitia 
archaeae  comoediae  charactere  compositum,  quale 
scripserunt  Lucilius  et  Horatius  et  Persius ;  at  olim 
carmen  quod  e  variis  poematibus  constabat  satura 
nominabatur ,  quale  scripserunt  Pacuvius  et  Ennius. 

And  again : — 

Satura  carmina  multa  simul  et  poemata  comprehen- 
duntur. 

Comparing  the  above  passages  we  learn  that  there 
were  several  kinds  of  composition  known  by  the 
name  of  Satura  : — 

(1)  The  Satire  of  Lucilius,  Horace,  and  Juvenal ; 
xxxviii 


INTRODUCTION 

(2)  An  earlier  form  of  Satire  founded  by  Terentiua 
Varro,  of  which  the  characteristic  feature  was  that 
it  was  non  sold  carminum  varietate  mixtum;  and 

(3)  The  kind  distinguished  from  the  Varronian 
kind  by  the  preceding  definition,  and  more  particu- 
larly described  by  Diomedes  as  having  been  used  by 
Pacuvius  and  Ennius,  and  defined  as  carmen  quod  e 
varus  poematibus  constabat. 

But  even  so  we  have  not  reached  the  earliest 
form  of  Satura,  which  was  of  a  dramatic  kind.  In 
recounting  the  history  of  the  importation  of  dra- 
matic games  from  Etruria  into  Rome  in  consequence 
of  a  pestilence  in  the  year  b.c.  364,  Livy  tells  us 
(vii.  2)  how  the  ludiones  imported  from  Etruria  danced 
Tuscan  dances  of  a  not  ungraceful  kind  to  the 
music  of  the  pipe,  but  without  words  or  gestures  ; 
how  the  native  youth  imitated  these  performances, 
adding  to  them  the  jocular  bandying  of  verses 
amongst  each  other  with  appropriate  gesticulations  ; 
till  at  last,  improving  upon  these  early  efforts,  non, 
sicid  antea,  Fescennino  versu  similcm  incompositum 
temere  ac  rudem  alternis  iaciebant ;  sed  impletas  modis 
saturas,  descripto  iam  ad  tibicinem  cantu,  motuque  con- 
gruenti  peragebant.  Hence  the  introduction  of  the 
drama  some  years  afterwards  (b.c.  240)  by  Livius 
Andronicus  qui  ab  saturis  ausus  est  primus  argumento 
fabulam  serere,  i.e.  construct  a  play  with  a  regular 
plot. 

We  thus  see  that  the  name  of  Satura  was  origin- 

xxxix 


INTRODUCTION 

ally  given  to  a  rough  musical  performance  of  a  semi- 
dramatic  kind,  being  developed  it  would  seem  from 
the  rude  banterings  in  extempore  verse  or  otherwise 
of  the  Italian  youth,  who  were  famed  for  the  antiqua 
et  vernacula  festivitas  with  which  they  used  to  pelt 
each  other  in  times  of  village  festivals  and  rejoicings.1 
Of  the  Satires  of  Pacuvius  we  know  nothing, 
except  from  the  above-quoted  passage  from  Dio- 
medes;  but  of  those  of  Ennius  (b.c.  239-169)  we 
know  enough  to  give  us  a  good  idea  of  what 
they  were.  Porphyrion  speaks  of  the  fourth  book 
of  his  Satires,  Donatus  of  a  sixth,  each  Satire  form- 
ing a  book  in  itself;  and  some  few  fragments  of 
them  remain.  One  deals  with  astrologers  and 
interpreters  of  dreams,  another  with  female  license ; 
and  Quintilian  tells  us  that  one  of  his  Satires  took  a 
dramatic  form  : — id  Voluptatem  et  Virtutem  Prodicus,  nl 
Mortem  et  Vitam  quas  contendentes  in  satura  tractat 
Ennius  {Inst.  Orat.  ix.  ii.  36).  Thus  Ennian  Satire 
seems  to  have  consisted  of  a  variety  of  poetical 
pieces,  composed  in  various  metres,  on  various  topics 

1  For  these  extempore  rustic  effusions,  full  of  coarse  and 
pungent  wit,  see  Virg.  Geo.  ii.  385-395,  and  Hor.  Epp.  i. 
147-167.  Having  regard  to  the  evidence  afforded  by  these 
passages,  and  by  the  passage  from  Livy  quoted  above,  it  is 
not  possible  to  accept  the  statement  of  Prof.  H.  Nettleship 
that  "Lucilius  was  the  first  writer  who  impressed  upon  the 
Satura  that  character  of  invective  which  it  to  a  great  extent 
preserved  in  the  hands  of  Horace,  Persius  and  Juvenal " 
(Lectures  and  Essays,  second  series,  1895).  On  the  contrary, 
it  would  seem  that  personal  abuse  formed  the  essence  of  the 
first  beginnings  of  Satura. 

xl 


INTRODUCTION 

drawn  from  daily  life,  occasionally  employing  dia- 
logue, and  written  with  a  certain  humour  and 
sprightliness  of  style. 

The  Satura  of  the  learned  Varro  (b.c.  116-28),  as 
we  have  already  seen,  contained  prose  as  well  as 
verse  (non  sola  carminum  varietate  mixtion),  and  accord- 
ing to  the  statement  put  into  his  mouth  by  Cicero 
(Acad.  1.  ii.  8)  they  were  written  in  imitation  of  the 
Greek  philosopher  Menippus  : — 

El  tamen  in  illis  veteribus  nostris,  quae  Menippum 
imilati,  non  interpretali,  quadam  hilaritate  conspeximus, 
multa  admixta  ex  inlima  philosophia,  multa  dicta  dia- 
lectice. 

So  too  Aulus  Gellius  u.  xviii.  10 : — 

Alii  quoque  non  pauci  fuerunt  qid  post  pkilosophi  clari 
exstiteruut.  Ex  quibus  Me  Menippus  fuit  cidus  librum 
M.  Varro  in  Saluris  imitatus  est,  quas  alii  Cynicas,  ipse 
appellat  Menippeas. 

Now  Menippus  was  a  Cynic  philosopher  of 
Gadara  (jl.  circ.  b.c.  60),  who  from  the  character 
of  his  works  was  distinguished  by  the  epithet 
o-TTouSoyeXotos,  i.e.  "  serio-comic,"  in  consequence  of 
the  humorous  style  in  which  he  expressed  himself, 
one  of  his  aims  being  to  ridicule  the  folly  and 
trifling  of  the  pseudo-philosophers  of  the  day.1 

1  We  may  compare  this  with  the  subject  of  Juvenal's 
second  Satire. 

xli 


INTRODUCTION 

The  slight  fragments  preserved  of  Menippus  are 
not  enough  to  enable  us  to  judge  of  his  style ;  but 
from  sundry  notices  of  him  in  Lucian  we  may  gather 
that  his  Satires  were  written  in  prose,1  that  they 
frequently  introduced  dialogue,  and  that  they  em- 
braced a  large  variety  of  topics,  including  especi- 
ally the  ridicule  of  false  philosophers.  Varro's 
Satires  gained  the  name  of  Menippea,  as  Cicero 
informs  us,  from  their  general  likeness  to  those 
of  Menippus  in  style  and  subject.  Both  emploved 
dialogue,  both  discoursed  on  many  subjects,  and 
both  conveyed  instruction  in  a  humorous  and  playful 
form. 

Varro  was  the  most  voluminous  of  writers  (77-oAu- 
ypa^wraro?,  Cic.  Epp.  ad  All.  xiii.  18)  ;  he  himself 
computed  that  he  had  written  490  books.  Of  these 
it  is  obvious,  from  the  number  of  times  they  are 
quoted  by  writers  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  fifth 
century,  that  the  Menippean  Satires  were  the  most 
popular.  There  seem  to  have  been  no  less  than  150 
of  them,  each  in  a  separate  book ;  the  grammarians 
Aulus  Gellius  (a.d.  117-180)  and  Nonius  Marcellus 
(fourth  century?)  cite  fragments  of  at  least  82 
of  the  Satires.    The  titles,  of  which  many  have  been 

1  Probus  indeed  (ad  Virg.  Ed.  vi.  31)  says  that  "Varro's 
Satire  was  called  after  Menippus  :  quod  is  quoque  omnigeno 
carmine  saturas  suas  expoliverat ;  but  among  the  many 
passages  in  which  Menippus  is  mentioned  by  those  who 
must  have  known  his  writings  there  is  no  hiut  that  he  ever 
wrote  in  verse. 

xlii 


INTRODUCTION 

preserved,  are  enough  to  show  the  variety  and 
humorous  character  of  their  contents,  which  covered 
many  different  subjects,  social,  philosophic,  and 
political.  Among  them  are  the  following  :  YSpoKiW, 
apparently  an  attack  upon  the  Cynics,  the  "  Pro- 
hibitionists "  of  their  day ;  Tpixapavo?,  "  the  three- 
headed  monster,"  perhaps  an  attack  upon  the 
First  Triumvirate ;  Hepl  e|aywy?/s,  on  suicide  ;  TvwOi 
asavrov ;  "Ovos  \vpas,  the  ass  who  pretends  to  a  taste 
for  music ;  A  is  77-aiSes  ol  yepovres  ;  Tithonus,  on  old 
age;  ToD  irarpb<;  to  ttcuSiov  (the  subject  of  Juvenal's 
fourteenth  Satire) ;  and  Pransus  paratus,  which  seems 
to  have  suggested  the  lines  of  our  modern  poet, 

Serenely  full,  the  epicure  may  say 

"Fate  cannot  harm  me,  I  have  dined  to~day." 

We  now  come  to  the  last  and  greatest  form  of 
Salura,  which  has  stamped  its  name  on  the  history 
of  literature  and  the  world,  the  Satire  of  Lucilius 
and  Horace,  of  Persius  and  of  Juvenal. 

Lucilian  Satire 

C.  Lucilius,  proclaimed  by  Horace,  Persius,  and 
Juvenal  as  the  founder  of  Roman  Satire,  was  born 
at  Suessa  Aurunca,  in  Campania,  in  B.C.  148  ;  he 
died  in  B.C.  103.  If  not  actually  the  inventor  of 
Roman  satire,  he  was  the  first  to  mould  it  into  that 
form  which  subsequently  acquired  consistency  and 

xliii 


INTRODUCTION 

full  development  in  the  hands  of  his  distinguished 
successors.  Juvenal  has  no  hesitation  in  acknow- 
ledging him  as  its  father  : — 

Cur  tamen  hoc  potius  libeai  decurrere  campo 
Per  quern  magnus  equos  Auruncae  flexit  alumnus  ; 

Sat.  i.  19-20. 

Horace  says  of  him  that  he  was  the  first  to  compose 
poems  in  this  style  : — 

Quid  cum  est  Lucilius  ausus 
Pri?nus  in  hanc  operis  componere  carmina  morem, 

Sat.  ii.  i.  63. 

Like  Quintilian,  Horace  proclaims  Lucilius  as  a 
writer  in  a  style  unknown  to  Greece  : — 

Graecis  intacti  carminis  auctor  {Sat.  i.  x.  66). 

He  was  a  man  of  good  social  position ;  Horace 
speaks  of  himself  as  "  infra  Lucili  censum  "  (Sat.  n. 
i.  75).  He  served  in  the  Numantine  war,  and 
seems  to  have  been  on  intimate  terms  with  Scipio,  and 
the  literary  society  which  gathered  round  him.  He 
was  a  prolific  writer,  having  written  no  less  than 
thirty  books  of  Satires,  each  book  probably  con- 
taining several  pieces.  The  subjects  treated  were 
of  the  most  miscellaneous  kind,  embracing  ques- 
tions of  religion,  morals,  politics,  and  literary 
criticisms ;  some  of  them  even  touched  on  ques- 
tions   of   grammar,       Living    in    the    days    of   the 

xliv 


INTRODUCTION 

free   republic,    he    indulged   in    broad    and    coarse 
personalities,  attacking  his  enemies  by  name  : — 

secuit  Lucilius  urbem, 
Te  Lupe,  te  Muci,  el  genuinum  fregit  in  Mis. 

Pers.  i.  114-15. 

In  this  respect,  Horace  tells  us,  Lucilius  took  his 
model  from  the  writers  of  the  old  Attic  comedy ; 
but  while  commending  his  freedom  and  his  wit, 
Horace  is  severe  upon  his  style,  which  he  pro- 
nounces rough,  redundant,  and  inartistic.  In  the 
general  tone  of  his  writings,  and  in  the  purity  of  his 
aims,  he  seems  to  have  represented  on  its  best  side 
the  literary  and  moral  ideas  of  the  Scipionic  circle. 
His  poems  have  been  described  as  open  letters  to 
the  public,  embracing  the  whole  life  of  a  cultivated 
man  of  the  world  in  good  position,  ready  to  criticise 
everything  and  everybody  in  politics,  literature,  and 
social  life. 

With  regard  to  the  metre  which  he  employed, 
the  great  body  of  his  poems,  with  some  exceptions, 
were  written  in  dactylic  hexameters  ;  and  from  that 
time  forward  this  became  the  recognised  metre  of 
Roman  satire. 

And  now  for  the  bond  which  linked  together 
these  various  forms  of  composition  under  the 
common  name  of  Satura. 

It  was  the  practice  among  the  ancients,  in  making 

xlv 


INTRODUCTION 

the  stated  sacrifices  to  Ceres  or  Bacchus,  or  other 
rural  deities,  to  offer  to  each  god  a  collection  of  the 
vai'ious  first-fruits  of  the  earth,  piled  up  upon  a 
large  platter.  The  Greeks  designated  offerings  of 
this  mixed  kind  by  the  name  TrayKap-rria.  or  7ray/cap7ros 
Ovaia;  while  the  Latins  called  a  platter  thus  piled 
up  a  Lanx  Satura,  or  simply  Satura,  that  word  being 
the  feminine  of  the  adjective  satur  (from  root  sat), 
signifying  repletion.  The  same  word  was  used  of 
other  things  possessing  the  same  quality  :  a  Lex 
passed  per  saturam  was  a  law  containing  enactments 
on  various  subjects  which  were  all  passed  together 
as  a  whole.  Thus  the  term  came  to  be  used  of  any 
miscellaneous  collection,  any  medley  or  hotch-potch 
consisting  of  many  mixed  ingredients. 

(1)  The  first  kind  of  entertainment  to  which  the 
word  was  applied  was  that  described  by  Livy  vii.  2, 
consisting  of  rough  dialogue  set  to  music,  {impletas 
mod  is  saturas),  with  singing  and  dancing.  The  whole 
might  appropriately  be  called  a  Dramatic  Miscellany 
or  Medley. 

(2)  Ennius  and  Pacuvius  removed  Satura  from  the 
stage,  and  gave  the  name  to  a  number  of  pieces 
composed  on  a  variety  of  subjects  and  in  a  variety 
of  metres.  The  whole,  viewed  as  a  collection, 
might  be  called  a  Poetical  Miscellany. 

(3)  Varro,  taking  as  his  model  the  dialogues  of 
Menippus,  wrote  a  vast  number  of  pieces  on  a 
multitude  of  different  subjects,  some  purely  comic, 

xlvi 


INTRODUCTION 

some  on  grave  themes  drawn  from  recondite 
philosophy,  but  even  these  treated  with  a  certain 
liveliness  of  manner  (conspersas  hilaritate  quadam), 
and  all  thrown  into  the  form  of  a  dialogue,  mostly 
in  prose,  possibly  with  some  admixture  of  verse, 
and  forming  what  may  be  called  a  serio-comic 
Philosophic  Miscellany. 

(4)  Finally  comes  the  Satura  Luciliana,  the  great 
characteristic  of  which  was  the  variety  of  subjects 
dealt  with.  Of  these,  however,  politics  ceased  to 
be  one  after  the  time  of  Lucilius.  If  we  admit  the 
limits  marked  out  for  himself  by  Juvenal  in  the 
famous  lines, 

Quidquid  agunl  homines,  votnm,  timor,  ira,  voluptas, 
Gaudia,  discursns,  nosiri  farrago  libelli  est  (i.  85-6), 

we  might  define  it  as  a  Moral  Miscellany.  Unlike 
previous  forms  of  Satire,  it  eliminated  prose  and 
restricted  itself  to  one  form  of  verse,  the  dactylic 
hexameter.  It  devoted  itself  mainly  to  social  and 
moral  topics,  castigating  the  vices  and  follies  of 
mankind  as  depicted  in  their  lives  and  occupations. 
Almost  any  subject  relating  to  man  or  society  might 
be  dealt  with  in  a  Satura.  Horace  allowed  himself 
a  very  wide  field,  including  critical  disquisitions 
and  such  anecdotes  as  might  lead  to  humorous  or 
caustic  comment;  while  Lucilius  went  further  still, 
entering  even  on  the  discussion  of  questions  of 
grammar  and  orthography.      Having  originated  on 

xlvii 

JUV.  d 


INTRODUCTION 

the  stage,  Satire  retained  to  the  last  evident  traces 
of  its  dramatic  origin.  Varro's  Satires  consisted 
largely  of  dialogue  ;  dialogue  is  constantly  appearing 
in  Horace ;  Juvenal  is  full  of  dramatic  touches ; 
while  the  proper  unravelling  of  obscurely  marked 
dialogue  forms  one  of  the  main  difficulties  in  the 
interpretation  of  Persius. 

Juvenal's  Satires  Summarized 

The  contents  of  Juvenal's  Satires  may  be  sum- 
marised as  follows  : 

In  his  1st  Satire,  which  was  probably  written  as  a 
Preface,  either  to  the  whole  of  the  Satires,  or  to  one 
of  the  five  separate  books  which  made  up  the  whole, 
Juvenal  again  follows  in  the  steps  of  Persius.  Among 
the  reasons  which  impelled  him  to  write  satire  he 
puts  first  of  all  his  disgust  at  the  popular  poetry 
of  the  day,  and  at  the  recitations  on  hackneyed 
mythological  subjects  to  which  he  is  compelled  to 
listen.  He  has  heard  enough  of  Theseus,  Jason,  and 
Orestes  ;  he  is  bored  by  perpetual  descriptions  of  the 
grove  of  Mars,  of  the  cave  of  Aeolus,  and  of  the 
exploits  of  Monychus.  He  prefers  to  deal  with 
realities ;  he  must  describe  the  men  of  his  own 
time : — 

Whatever  passions  have  the  soul  possessed, 
Whatever  wild  desires  inflamed  the  breast, 

xlviii 


INTRODUCTION 

Joy,  Sorrow,  Fear,  Love,  Hatred,  Transport,  Rage, 
Shall  form  the  motley  subject  of  my  page. 

(Gifford's  Version  of  i.  84,  85.) 

Precisely  similar  is  the  disgust  expressed  by 
Martial  at  the  mawkish  mythological  poetry  of  his 
day:— 

Qui  legis  Oedipoden  caliganlemque  Thyesten, 

Colchidas  et  Scyllas,  quid  nisi  monstra  legis  ? 
Quid  te  vana  iuvant  miserae  ludibria  cartae  ? 

Hoc  lege,  quod  possit  dicere  vita,  Meum  est. 
Non  hie  Centauros,  non  Gorgonas  Harpyasque 
Invenies  :  hominem  pagina  nostra  sapit. 

{Epp.  x.  iv.  1-2,  7-10.) 
Juvenal  and  Martial  may  thus  be  said  to  have 
developed  a  school  of  practical  poetry.  Just  as 
Socrates  is  said  to  have  called  down  the  attention 
of  men  from  the  heavens  to  the  earth,  so  did  Juvenal 
and  Martial  call  men  from  the  barren  repetition  of 
mythological  tales  and  fancies,  and  the  no  less  barren 
field  of  rhetorical  declamation,  to  describing  the  life 
of  men  as  lived  in  their  own  time  and  city. 

Juvenal  ends  his  1st  Satire  with  the  announce- 
ment that  he  is  not  to  follow  the  example  of  Lucilius 
in  attacking  his  contemporaries ;  his  shafts  are  to  be 
directed,  not  against  the  living,  but  against  the  dead. 
This  is  not  to  be  taken  merely  as  a  sign  of  caution 
on  Juvenal's  part,  as  though  he  were  afraid  of  rousing 
resentments  like  those  aroused  by  Lucilius,  but  is 

xlix 
d  2 


INTRODUCTION 

rather   an   indication  that   his   main    purpose  is  to 
expose  the  vices  and  follies  of  the  day,  not  to  attack 
the  individuals  who  had  committed  them.      He  is  to 
be  a  preacher  of  morality,  not  a  chastiser  of  persons. 
And  this  promise   is  to  a  large  extent  made  good. 
Juvenal    makes   no    effort   to    describe    or    ridicule 
individual  characters,  nor  did  he  possess  the  special 
talent  for  the  purpose.   His  subject,  no  doubt,  requires 
him  frequently  to  quote  names  ;  but  such  names  are 
usually  given  merely  as  typical  of  some  special  kind 
of  failing.     They  are  taken  either   from   books,  or 
from  persons  who  had  in  some  way  or  other  made 
themselves  notorious ;  some  of  them  may  have  been 
invented  for  the  occasion.    In  no  case  do  we  recognise 
any  special  feeling  of  animosity  against  the  person 
named  ;  nowhere  can  we  discover  any  trace  of  that 
personal  vindictiveness  which   sharpens    the    point, 
and   impairs   the   truthfulness,  of  so    much  of  our 
most  famous    modern  satire.      And  Juvenal's  most 
exaggerated  invectives   are  relieved  by  the  feeling 
that  they  are  the  sincere  outpourings  of  that  saeva 
indignatio  which  has  so  often  been  coupled  with  his 
name. 

In  his  2nd  Satire  Juvenal  attacks  false  philo- 
sophers— men  who,  while  exhibiting  in  public  the 
stern  looks  and  uncouth  manners  of  Stoics,  practise 
the  worst  vices  in  secret.  It  is  characteristic  of 
Juvenal  that  he  quotes  as  instances  of  the   worst 

1 


INTRODUCTION 

depravity  the  fact  that  a  Roman  noble  wore  clothes 
of  almost  transparent  texture,  and  that  the  Emperor 
Otho  used  cosmetics  and  carried  with  him  a  mirror 
as  part  of  his  paraphernalia  for  war. 

The  3rd  Satire,  from  an  artistic  point  of  view,  is 
perhaps  Juvenal's  finest  performance.  It  contains  a 
brilliant  picture  of  the  living  Rome  of  his  day,  of  its 
sights  and  sounds,  its  physical  dangers  and  annoy- 
ances, its  luxury  and  its  meanness,  its  wearisome 
social  observances,  and  of  the  intolerable  inequalities 
which  made  it  impossible  for  a  poor  man  with  any 
self-respect  to  continue  any  longer  to  live  in  it. 

In  lines  18-20  we  find  a  charming  indication 
of  the  poet's  natural  good  taste  when  he  exclaims 
how  much  nearer  to  us  would  be  the  spirit  of  Egeria 
"  if  her  fountain  were  fringed  by  a  margin  of  green 
grass,  and  there  were  no  marble  ornament  to  outrage 
the  native  tufa." 

The  4th  Satire  is  of  a  lighter  kind  ;  it  is  in  the 
nature  of  a  skit  upon  the  solemn  importance  with 
which  an  exacting  emperor  like  Domitian  might 
invest  the  most  frivolous  act  of  obsequious  flatterers. 
A  mullet  of  huge  size  is  sent  up  as  a  present  to  the 
emperor,  who  at  once  summons  a  meeting  of  his 
cabinet  council  to  consider  how  the  fish  is  to  be 
treated. 

The  5th  Satire,  in  a  tone  of  bitter  irony,  gives  us 

li 


INTRODUCTION 

the  most  perfect  picture  we  possess  of  the  manner 
in  which  a  patron  of  the  Imperial  times  might 
discharge  the  old  historical  duty  of  entertaining  his 
clients.  The  picture  is  taken  from  the  life  ;  and  we 
cannot  doubt  that  Juvenal  had  experienced  in  his 
own  person  the  humiliations  which  he  describes. 
Nothing  can  be  more  revolting,  nothing  more  repug- 
nant to  every  idea  of  hospitality,  than  the  manner  in 
which  the  host  Virro  entertains  his  guest,  who  as  a 
full  reward  for  faithful  daily  service  receives  at  length 
the  long-hoped-for  invitation  to  dinner.  He  sits,  or 
rather  reclines,  at  the  same  table,  but  on  a  lower 
couch.  He  is  subjected  to  every  kind  of  indignity 
at  the  hands  both  of  the  host  and  of  his  menial 
attendants.  For  every  course  a  different  and  inferior 
dish  is  served  to  the  client ;  so  also  with  the  drink. 
It  is  not  that  Virro  grudges  the  expense  of  the 
entertainment ;  it  is  his  deliberate  object  to  insult 
his  client,  and  he  rejoices  in  his  humiliation. 

The  longest,  the  most  elaborate,  and  the  most 
brilliant  of  Juvenal's  Satires  is  the  6th,  which  puts 
before  us,  in  long  procession,  a  Dream  of  Unlovely 
Women. 

What,  Postumus  ?  Are  you,  in  your  sober  senses, 
going  to  take  to  yourself  a  wife  ?  Do  you  not  know 
that  Chastity  has  fled  this  earth  ?  She  may  have 
stayed  with  us  in  Saturn's  time,  and  perhaps  lingered 
awhile  under  Jupiter  before  he  grew  his  beard,  in  the 

lii 


INTRODUCTION 

days  when  men  still  made  their  home  in  caves,  and 
when  wives  spread  couches  of  leaves  and  beast-skins 
on  the  mountain-side.  But  know  you  not  that  since 
the  Silver  Age  came  in  adultery  has  been  all  the 
vogue?  Are  you  actually  thinking  of  making  a 
marriage  contract  and  presenting  an  engagement 
ring  ?  By  what  Fury  are  you  possessed  ?  Have  you 
no  halter  by  you?  is  there  no  high  window  from 
which  you  can  take  a  leap  ?     (1-37.) 

And  is  Ursidius,  once  the  most  notorious  of 
gallants,  preparing  to  obey  the  Julian  law  and  to 
rear  an  heir  ?  ready  to  forgo  all  the  turtles  and 
mullets  and  other  dainties  which  his  childlessness 
now  brings  him  in  ?  Bleed  the  simpleton,  ye  doctors, 
if  he  thinks  he  can  find  a  virtuous  wife ;  if  he  finds 
one,  let  him  sacrifice  a  heifer  with  gilded  horns 
to  Juno  !  Why,  nowadays  a  wife  would  sooner  be 
contented  with  one  eye  than  with  one  husband  ! 
(38-59.) 

Can  you,  m  all  the  tiers  of  the  circus  or  the 
theatre,  find  a  single  honest  woman  ?  Women  love 
the  stage  ;  if  you  marry  a  wife  it  will  be  to  make  a 
father  of  some  harpist  or  flute-player.  Or  perhaps, 
like  Eppia,  the  Senator's  wife,  she  will  run  off  to 
Egypt  with  a  gladiator,  leaving  home  and  husband 
and  sister,  and  brave  all  the  perils  of  the  deep. 
Had  her  husband  bidden  her  go  on  board  a  ship,  she 
would  have  deemed  it  an  act  of  cruelty  ;  no  woman 
has  boldness  but  for  acts  of  shame  !     (60-135.) 

liii 


INTRODUCTION 

If  a  husband  believes  in  his  wife's  virtue,  it  is 
because  of  the  dowry  that  she  has  brought  him  ;  the 
Cupid  that  inflamed  him  was  in  her  money-bags  ! 
If  he  love  her  for  her  beauty,  she  will  lord  it  over 
him  as  long  as  that  lasts,  and  ruin  him  by  her 
extravagance  ;  once  her  charms  are  faded,  he  will 
put  her  to  the  door.  If,  again,  she  be  virtuous, 
comely,  rich,  fertile,  and  high-born,  what  husband 
can  endure  a  woman  who  is  all  perfection,  and  is  for 
ever  casting  her  high  qualities  in  his  teeth  ?  Away 
with  your  high  ancestry,  Cornelia  !  away  with  your 
Hannibal,  your  Syphax,  and  your  Carthage  !  Re- 
member the  fate  of  Niobe  !     (136-183.) 

How  nauseous  is  the  female  habit  of  using  Greek 
for  every  act  and  circumstance  of  life  !  Women  now 
do  everything,  even  their  loves,  in  Greek.  You 
might  forgive  it  in  a  girl ;  but  what  can  be  more 
revolting  than  to  hear  Greek  terms  of  endearment 
in  the  mouth  of  an  old  woman  ?     (184-199.) 

If  you  marry  without  love,  why  marry  at  all  ? 
Why  be  at  the  expense  of  a  marriage-feast  and  all 
the  other  costs  of  matrimony  ?  If  you  are  really 
and  truly  in  love  with  your  wife,  then  bow  your 
head  submissively  to  the  yoke.  She  will  take  full 
toll  of  you ;  she  will  rejoice  in  stripping  you  bare ; 
she  will  do  all  your  buying  and  your  selling  for  you ; 
she  will  show  your  old  friends  to  the  door,  and  make 
you  leave  legacies  to  her  lovers.  She  will  crucify 
your  slaves  for  little  or  no  offence ;    if  you  expos- 

liv 


INTRODUCTION 

tulate,  and  plead  for  delay,  she  will  tell  you  "  It  is 
my  will ;  the  thing  must  be  done  !  "  In  the  end 
she  will  leave  you,  and  wear  out  her  veil  in  other 
bridals.  What  think  you  of  one  who  ran  through 
eight  husbands  in  five  seasons  ?    (200-230.) 

No  hope  of  peace  so  long  as  your  mother-in-law 
is  alive.  She  rejoices  to  see  you  fleeced  ;  she  helps 
her  daughter  in  her  intrigues,  and  teaches  her  to  be 
like  herself. 

Women  are  desperately  litigious;  never  yet  was 
there  a  lawsuit  which  did  not  have  a  woman  at  the 
bottom  of  it.  If  Manilia  is  not  a  defendant,  she  is  a 
plaintiff;  she  instructs  her  learned  counsel  how  to 
adjust  his  pleas.     (231-245.) 

Then  there  is  the  athletic  woman,  with  her 
wrappers  and  her  ointments,  her  belts,  greaves,  and 
gauntlets;  puffing  and  blowing  all  the  time,  she 
belabours  a  stump  with  wooden  sword  or  shield ;  and 
though  her  skin  is  so  delicate  that  she  must  needs 
wear  garments  of  silk,  she  goes  through  all  the 
exercises,  all  the  attitudes  and  postures,  of  the  gym- 
nasium. What  gladiator's  wife  would  stoop  to  do 
the  like  ?     (246-267.) 

The  connubial  couch  is  ever  full  of  bickerings  and 
reproaches  :  no  sleep  to  be  got  there  !  It  is  there  that 
the  wife  assails  her  husband  with  the  fury  of  a  tigress 
that  has  lost  her  whelps  ;  she  rakes  up  every  imaginary 
grievance  against  him,  and  has  always  floods  of  tears 
at  her  command;  he,  poor  fool,  imagines  they  are 

lv 


INTRODUCTION 

tears  of  love.  If  she  herself  be  caught  in  a  delin- 
quency, she  brazens  it  out :  "  We  agreed/'  says  she, 
"that  you  should  go  your  way  and  I  mine."  (268- 
285.) 

Whence  came  all  these  monstrosities  among  us  ? 
When  Latian  homes  were  poor  and  humble,  when 
hands  were  hard  with  toil,  when  Hannibal  was 
thundering  at  our  gates,  our  homes  were  pure ; 
Roman  virtue  perished  along  with  Roman  poverty. 
Long  peace  and  enervating  riches  have  been  our  ruin, 
pouring  all  the  corruptions  of  Rhodes,  Miletus,  and 
Tarentum  into  our  city.  Little  wonder  that  Ave  have 
deserted  the  simple  rites  of  Numa  and  adopted  the 
foul  practices  of  the  Good  Goddess  !     (286-351.) 

Ogulnia  wishes  to  make  a  show  at  the  games  ■ 
she  hires  a  gown,  a  litter  and  followers,  with  a  maid 
to  run  her  messages ;  she  presents  to  some  smooth- 
skinned  athlete  the  last  remnants  of  the  family 
plate.  Such  women  never  think  what  their  pleasures 
cost  them  ;  men  sometimes  have  an  eye  to  economy, 
women  never.     (352-365.) 

If  your  wife  have  a  taste  for  music,  she  will  aban- 
don herself  to  the  musicians  ;  her  bejewelled  fingers 
will  for  ever  be  strumming  on  their  instruments; 
she  offei-s  wine  and  meal  to  Janus  and  to  Vesta  that 
her  Pollio  may  win  a  crown  of  oak-leaves.  You  Gods 
must  have  much  time  upon  your  hands  if  you  can 
listen  to  prayers  like  these  !     (379-397.) 

Better  that,  however,  than  that  your  wife  should 

Ivi 


INTRODUCTION 

be  a  busybody,  running  about  the  town  and  discuss- 
ing the  news  with  generals,  and  in  her  husband's 
presence,  unabashed  ;  she  knows  everything  that  is 
taking  place  in  every  corner  of  the  globe  ;  she  retails 
every  scandal  of  the  town  ;  she  picks  up  the  latest 
rumours  at  the  city  gates  ;  she  knows  what  countries 
are  being  devastated  by  floods,  what  disasters  comets 
are  boding  to  the  kings  of  Parthia  and  Armenia,  and 
repeats  her  tales  to  every  man  and  woman  in  the 
street.     (398-412.) 

More  terrible  still  is  the  termagant,  who  loves 
to  lash  her  poor  neighbours ;  when  a  dog  disturbs 
her  slumbers,  she  orders  the  owner  to  be  thrashed 
first,  and  then  the  dog.  She  enters  the  baths  noisily 
by  night,  works  at  the  dumbbells  till  she  is  wearied, 
and  then  submits  herself  to  the  bathman  for  massage. 
Meanwhile  her  famished  guests  have  been  wearying 
for  their  dinner ;  when  at  last  she  arrives,  she  slakes 
her  thirst  with  bumpers  of  Falernian,  which  soon 
find  their  way  back  on  to  the  floor.     (413-433.) 

No  less  of  a  nuisance  is  your  learned  lady,  who 
discourses  on  poetry,  and  pits  Homer  and  Virgil 
against  each  other.  She  outbawls  all  the  rhetori- 
cians with  her  din  ;  she  could  unaided  bring  succour 
to  the  labouring  moon.  She  lays  down  definitions 
like  a  philosopher ;  she  should  tuck  up  her  skirts 
half-leg  high,  sacrifice  a  pig  to  Silvanus,  and  take 
a  penny   bath ! 1     She   knows   all    history,    quotes 

i    i.e.  take  a  public  bath  along  with  the  men. 

lvii 


INTRODUCTION 

poets  that  I  never  heard  of;  she  has  every  trick  of 
speech  at  her  fingers'  ends,  and  will  pull  you  up  for 
the  smallest  slip  in  grammar.  Take  no  such  wife  to 
your  bosom  !     (434-456.) 

Still  more  unbearable  is  the  wealthy  wife,  who 
thinks  that  everything  is  permitted  to  her.  Her 
neck,  her  ears,  are  resplendent  with  precious  stones ; 
she  plasters  her  face  with  bread-poultices  and 
Poppaean  pastes  which  stick  to  her  husband's  lips 
when  he  gives  her  a  kiss.  She  never  cares  to  look 
well  at  home  ;  it  is  for  lovers  only  that  a  clean  skin 
and  Indian  perfumes  are  reserved.  In  due  time  she 
washes  off  the  layers  with  asses'  milk,  and  the  face 
can  be  recognised  as  a  face  instead  of  as  a.  sore  ' 
(457-473.) 

If  the  husband  has  been  neglectful,  the  maids 
will  suffer  for  it ;  the  slightest  fault  will  bring  down 
a  thrashing  on  them  with  whip  or  cane  ;  some  women 
engage  their  floggers  by  the  year.  The  lady  mean- 
while is  making  up  her  face,  or  chatting  with  her 
friends,  or  examining  a  piece  of  embroidery,  or 
reading  the  Gazette :  not  less  cruel  than  Phalaris, 
she  keeps  her  flogger  at  it  all  the  time.  If  in  a 
hurry  to  keep  an  assignation,  she  wreaks  her  ven- 
geance on  her  tirewoman  with  a  thong  of  bull's  hide 
for  every  curl  out  of  place,  while  the  second  maid 
builds  up  the  lofty  erection  on  her  head  :  so  serious  is 
the  art  of  beautification  !  so  complicated  the  artistic 
structure !     Not  a  thought  for  the  husband  all  this 

lviii 


INTRODUCTION 

time ;  he  is  only  a  little  nearer  to  her  than  a  next- 
door  neighbour ;  she  heeds  not  what  she  costs  him. 
(474-511.) 

Another  is  the  prey  of  every  superstition.  In 
come  the  noisy  crew  of  the  frantic  Bellona  and 
the  Good  Goddess,  clanging  their  cymbals ;  they 
pay  reverence  to  the  huge  emasculated  priest ;  to 
avert  his  prophecies  of  evil,  she  presents  him  with 
a  hundred  eggs,  and  some  cast-off  clothing :  these 
carry  off  the  threatened  peril  and  purify  her  for 
the  entire  year.  In  winter-time  she  breaks  the  ice 
for  a  plunge  into  the  Tiber,  and  then  crawls  with 
bleeding  knees  over  the  Campus  Martius.  At  Io's 
bidding — for  she  believes  that  the  Goddess  herself 
holds  commune  with  her — she  would  go  on  a 
pilgrimage  to  Egypt  to  bring  water  from  Lake 
Meroe  with  which  to  besprinkle  the  shrine  of  Isis. 
She  pays  reverence  to  the  dog-headed  Anubis,  with 
his  close-cropped  and  linen-clad  followers ;  a  fat 
goose  and  a  thin  cake  will  obtain  absolution  for  all 
her  peccadilloes  from  Osiris.     (511-541.) 

Next  comes  a  Jewish  hag,  leaving  her  basket 
and  her  hay,  who  whispers  secrets  into  her  ear, 
expounding  the  holy  laws  of  her  tribe  :  she  inter- 
prets or  invents  dreams  for  the  smallest  of  coins. 
An  Armenian  or  Syrian  soothsayer,  manipulating  a 
pigeon's  liver,  promises  her  a  youthful  lover,  or  the 
inheritance  of  some  rich  and  childless  man.  He 
probes  the  entrails  of  a  dog,  sometimes  even  of  a 

lix 


INTRODUCTION 

boy,  committing  a  crime  that  he  may  himself  turn 
informer.  But  most  trusted  of  all  is  the  Chaldaean, 
whose  words  come  direct  from  the  fount  of  Hammon 
— more  especially  if  he  have  done  something  to 
deserve  exile  and  narrowly  escaped  death.  Your 
virtuous  Tanaquil  consults  him  about  the  too  long 
delayed  death  of  her  mother  or  her  uncle — having 
first  enquired  about  your  own  death.  Such  a  one 
knows  nothing  about  the  stars ;  but  beware  of  the 
woman  in  whose  hand  you  see  a  well-thumbed 
almanack,  and  who  claims  to  be  an  expert  ;  she 
is  herself  consulted,  and  regulates  her  whole  life 
after  the  dictates  of  the  occult  science.  Rich 
women  consult  a  Phrygian  or  an  Indian  augur ;  the 
poor  woman  looks  for  a  diviner  in  the  Circus,  of 
whom  she  enquires  whether  she  shall  marry  the 
tavern-keeper  or  the  old-clothesman.     (542-591.) 

Poor  women  will  bear  the  pangs  of  childbirth  ;  but 
you  will  rarely  find  a  woman  lying-in  who  sleeps  in 
a  gilded  bed.  So  potent  are  the  draughts  of  the 
abortionist !  Hand  the  potion  to  her  yourself,  my  man, 
and  rejoice  in  the  murder  of  your  unborn  children  : 
you  might  otherwise  find  yourself  the  father  of  a 
blackamoor.  If  an  heir  be  wanted  for  some  great 
house,  roguish  Fortune  knows  where  to  look  for  one  : 
she  takes  her  stand  by  night  at  the  foundling  pool, 
dandles  a  chance  infant  in  her  arms,  and  spirits  it 
away  into  some  lordly  house  to  become  a  Pontifex 
or  a  Priest  of  Mars !     (592-609.) 

lx 


INTRODUCTION 

Instructed  by  Thessalian  witches,  a  wife  will 
make  her  husband  imbecile  or  raving  mad  with  a 
magical  love  philtre:  just  as  Caesonia's1  potion 
robbed  Nero's  uncle  of  his  senses.  More  guilty  she 
than  Agrippina :  for  Agrippina  did  but  "  send  down 
to  heaven  "  a  slobbering  dotard,  whereas  Caesonia's 
medicament  slew  knights  and  senators  together,  and 
turned  the  whole  world  upside  down  with  fire  and 
the  sword.     (610-626.) 

To  kill  a  stepson  is  now  thought  quite  in  order ; 
beware,  ye  wards,  if  ye  have  wealth :  keep  an  eye 
upon  your  stepmother's  cakes,  and  'let  her  cup  be 
tasted  before  you  put  it  to  your  lips.  Do  you  sup- 
pose that  I  am  telling  mere  idle  tales,  breathing 
forth  mouthings  like  a  tragedian  ?  Would  to  heaven 
it  were  so  !  but  just  look  at  the  case  of  Portia,  who 
was  caught  in  the  act :  "  I  did  it,"  she  confessed ; 
"  with  my  own  hands.  I  gave  aconite  to  my  boys." 
"  What,  you  viper  ?  you  slew  two  of  them  at  one 
meal  ?  "  "  Ay  ;  and  seven  too  had  there  been  seven 
to  slay  !  "     (627-642.) 

Tragedy,  indeed,  tells  us  of  the  crimes  of  Procne 
and  the  Colchian ;  I  seek  not  to  deny  them.  But 
they  sinned  in  wrath,  not  for  filthy  lucre's  sake  : 
what  I  cannot  abide  is  the  calculated  crime,  com- 
mitted calmly  in  cold  blood.  Women  flock  to  see 
Alcestis  dying  for  her  husband  ;    but  your  modern 

1  Caesonia  was  Caligula's  wife.  Agrippina  was  supposed 
to  have  poisoned  her  uncle-husband  Claudius,  and  so  won  for 
him  divinity. 

Ixi 


INTRODUCTION 

woman  would  let  her  husband  go  to  Hades  if  she 
could  save  her  lapdog  !  Daughters  of  Danaus  1  are 
to  be  found  in  plenty  among  us ;  every  street  in 
Rome  contains  its  Clytemnestra  ;  the  only  difference 
is  that  she  made  use  of  a  clumsy  two-bladed  axe, 
while  these  women  do  the  trick  with  the  liver  of  a 
toad — and  pei-haps  with  a  knife,  if  their  lord  have 
fortified  himself  with  antidotes  !     (643-661.) 

The  7th  Satire  promises  a  good  time  for  letters 
and  learning  from  the  expected  patronage  of  the 
new  emperor,  and  is  mainly  taken  up  with  bewailing 
the  miserable  prospects  of  all  the  literary  professions. 
The  good  old  days  of  patronage  are  gone ;  the 
wealthy  pay  no  respect  to  letters,  or  assist  them  only 
in  ways  that  involve  no  cost  to  themselves  ;  the  only 
patronage  worth  having  nowadays  is  the  favour  of  a 
popular  play-actor.  The  poet,  the  historian,  the 
advocate,  the  rhetorician,  the  grammarian — all  have 
the  same  tale  of  neglect  and  poverty  to  tell,  whereas 
singers  and  jockeys  are  splendidly  rewarded.  The 
teacher's  profession,  which  is  the  noblest,  and  the 
most  deserving  of  respect,  of  all  the  professions, 
fares  worst  of  all ;  there  is  no  money  that  a  father 
grudges  so  much  as  that  spent  in  the  education  of 
his  son. 

The  8th  Satire  is  an  attack  upon  pride  of  birth. 
Though  there  is  no  one  who  has  more  respect  for  the 

1  i.e.  wives  who  murder  their  husbands. 
Ixii 


INTRODUCTION 

blood  of  the  great  old  Roman  houses  than  Juvenal 
himself,  he  discourses  eloquently  on  the  theme 
nobilitas  sola  est  atque  unica  virtus.  No  man,  no  animal, 
can  be  called  high-born  whose  breeding  is  not  pro- 
claimed by  the  possession  of  high  qualities.  A  man 
must  stand  or  fall  by  his  own  qualities,  not  by 
those  of  his  ancestors.  Be  a  stout  soldier,  an  honest 
guardian,  and  an  impartial  arbiter ;  prefer  honour  to 
life ;  if  called  to  govern  a  province,  be  just  and 
tender-hearted  to  the  provincials.  If  your  wife  be 
blameless,  and  you  have  no  corrupt  favourite  in  your 
suite,  you  may  trace  your  lineage  to  the  loftiest 
source  you  please  ;  but  if  you  are  carried  headlong 
by  ambition,  lust  and  cruelty,  the  noble  blood  of 
your  ancestors  rises  up  in  judgment  against  you,  and 
throws  a  dazzling  light  upon  your  misdeeds.  What 
think  you  of  the  noble  Lateranus,  who  drives  his 
own  chariot  along  the  public  way  unabashed,  and 
frequents  low  taverns,  where  he  consorts  with 
thieves,  coffin-makers,  and  cut-throats?  And  what 
are  we  to  say  of  a  Damasippus  or  a  Lentulus,  who 
hire  out  their  voices  to  the  stage  ? — though,  indeed, 
who  might  not  be  a  mime  when  an  emperor  has 
turned  lutist  ? — and  worse  still,  have  we  not  seen 
the  noble  Gracchus  in  the  arena,  not  fighting  with 
helm  and  shield  and  sword,  but  with  a  trident  and 
a  net  in  his  hand  ?  See  how  he  has  missed  his  cast, 
and  lifts  his  face  for  all  to  see  as  he  flies  along  the 
arena !    Orestes,  you  say,  was  a  parricide,  like  Nero ; 

lxiii 

JUV-  « 


INTRODUCTION 

but  Orestes  slew  no  wife,  no  sister :  he  never  sang 
upon  the  stage,  he  never  wrote  an  epic  upon  Troy  ! 
And  of  all  his  crimes,  which  deserved  greater  punish- 
ment than  that  ? 

Whose  blood  could  be  nobler  than  that  of  Catiline 
or  Cethegus  ?  Yet  they  conspired  to  destroy  the 
city  ;  and  it  was  the  plebeian  Cicero  that  preserved  it. 
The  plebeian  Marius  saved  her  from  the  Cimbri  and 
the  Teutones  ;  the  plebeian  Decii  saved  our  legions 
from  the  hosts  of  Latium  ;  and  the  best  king  of  Rome 
was  a  slave-girl's  son. 

The  9  th  Satire  deals  with  a  disgusting  offence,  one  of 
the  main  sources  of  corruption  in  the  ancient  world. 

The  10th  Satire  has  been  often  called  Juvenal's 
masterpiece ;  it  has  had  the  honour  of  being  para- 
phrased by  Johnson  in  his  "  Vanity  of  Human 
Wishes,"  and  it  has  all  the  merits  of  a  full-blown 
rhetorical  declamation.  It  has  some  magnificent 
descriptions,  especially  that  of  the  fall  of  the  favourite 
Sejanus.  But  it  is  a  profoundly  depressing  and 
pessimistic  poem.  Except  in  the  last  few  lines, 
there  is  not  a  word  of  hope  or  encouragement  for 
the  ordinary  human  being  ;  no  sense  that  any  kind 
of  life  can  be  worth  living ;  not  one  word  of  counter- 
poise to  the  long,  dismal  catalogue  of  human  failures; 
no  suggestion  that  in  great  lives  which  have  ended 
in  disaster  there  may  have  been  moments  of  noble 

lxiv 


INTRODUCTION 

action,  high  endeavour  and  inspiration.  The  de- 
scription of  old  age  is  revolting  in  its  minuteness, 
and  it  is  not  relieved  by  a  single  touch  of  sympathy 
or  kindliness.     The  text  of  the  whole  is 

Quid  tarn  dextro  pede  concipis  ut  te 
Conatus  non  paeniteat  votique  peracii  ? 

Our  wishes,  our  prayers,  are  all  equally  vain.  If 
you  lust  for  riches,  think  of  the  fate  of  a  Lateranus, 
a  Seneca,  or  a  Longinus ;  even  in  days  of  primitive 
simplicity,  man's  follies  provoked  the  tears  of  Hera- 
cleitus  and  the  laughter  of  Democritus.  Some  men 
are  brought  to  ruin  by  their  lust  of  place  and 
power,  like  Pompey,  the  Crassi,  and  Sejanus  ;  others, 
like  Cicero  and  Demosthenes,  by  the  fatal  gift  of 
eloquence.  The  glories  of  war  end  in  misery  and 
disaster — look  at  the  calamitous  ends  of  Hannibal, 
of  Xerxes,  and  Alexander  !  Men  pray  for  long  life  ; 
but  old  age  does  but  bring  with  it  a  host  of  miseries 
and  infirmities,  ending  in  the  loss  of  reason.  What 
calamities  had  Nestor,  Peleus,  and  Priam  to  go 
through  because  of  their  length  of  days!  What 
disasters  would  have  been  escaped  by  Marius  and 
Pompey,  what  glory  might  not  have  been  theirs, 
had  they  died  earlier  ! 

The  loving  mother  prays  that  her  children  may 
have  beauty  ;  but  when  did  modesty  and  beauty  go 
together  ?  The  fair  maiden,  the  fair  youth,  live  in 
a  world   of  peril   and  of  snares.     Hippolytus  and 

lxv 
juv.  e  2 


INTRODUCTION 

Bellerophon  warn  us  that  even  purity  has  its  dangers; 
and  what  was  the  end  of  the  fair  and  high-born  youth 
who  became  a  victim  to  the  passion  of  Messalina  ? 

Better  leave  it  to  the  Gods  to  determine  what  is 
best  for  you  and  for  your  state  ;  man  is  dearer  to 
them  than  he  is  to  himself.  But  if  you  must  needs 
pray  for  something,  ask  for  things  which  you  can 
give  yourself:  ask  for  a  stout  heart  that  fears  not 
death  ;  ask  for  power  to  endure ;  ask  for  a  heart  that 
knows  not  anger  and  desire,  and  deems  that  all  the 
woes  of  Hercules  are  better  than  the  soft  cushions 
of  Sardanapalus.  These  things  you  can  bestow  on 
yourself,  and  snap  your  fingers  at  the  strokes  of 
Fortune  ! 

The  11th  Satire  consists  of  two  parts.  It  begins 
with  an  account  of  the  folly  of  gourmands  of  slender 
means,  who  ruin  themselves  for  the  pleasures  of  the 
table,  forgetful  of  the  golden  rule  yvwOi  aeavrov,  which 
warns  a  man  to  know  his  tether,  in  finance  as  well  as 
in  other  things,  and  not  buy  a  mullet  when  he  has 
only  a  gudgeon  in  his  purse  (1-55).  This  serves  as 
a  prelude  to  the  second  part  of  the  Satire,  in  which 
the  poet  invites  his  friend  Persicus  to  a  genial  but 
simple  feast,  the  delicacies  of  which  are  to  be  fur- 
nished from  the  homely  produce  of  his  Tiburtine 
farm — such  a  feast  as  was  served  on  simple  ware  to 
resale  the  consuls  and  dictators  of  the  olden  time. 
There  will  be  no  rich  plate  no  costly  furniture,  no 

lxvi 


INTRODUCTION 

silver,  no  handles  of  ivory,  no  professional  carver,  no 
Phrygian  or  Lycian  Ganymede  to  hand  you  your  cup. 
Two  simple  country-clad  lads  will  serve  the  table; 
no  wanton  dancing  girls  will  be  provided  for  your 
entertainment ;  only  Homer  and  Virgil  will  be 
read.  And  our  enjoyment  will  be  all  the  greater 
that  we  can  hear  the  roars  of  the  circus  in  the 
distance,  and  hug  ourselves  in  the  delights  of  a  rare 
and  peaceful  holiday  (56-208). 

In  his  1 2th  Satire  Juvenal  celebrates  the  narrow 
escape   from    shipwreck  of  his  friend   Catullus.     A 
terrible   storm  had  compelled  him  to  cut  away  the 
mast  and  to  throw  overboard  all  the  treasures  of  his 
cargo.     But  at  length  the  storm  abates,  and  Catullus 
with   his   crew   arrive  safe  and  sound  in  the   new 
Ostian  harbour.     Juvenal  then  offers  a  sacrifice  of 
thanksgiving  for  his  friend's  safety— no  mercenary 
offering  this  for  a  rich  and  childless  friend,  seeing 
that  Catullus  has  three  little  sons  of  his  own.     This 
leads  the  poet  to  have  his  fling  at  the  wiles  of  legacy- 
hunters,  some  of  whom  would  be  ready  to  sacrifice  a 
hecatomb  of  elephants  (if  elephants  were  to  be  had), 
or  even  to  offer  an  Iphigenia  of  their  own,  in  order 
to  secure  a  place  in  a  rich  man's  will. 

The  elephant  passage  is  singularly  cumbrous  and 
out  of  place. 

The  13th  is  the  noblest  of  Juvenal's  Satires.     It 
takes  the  form  of  a  consolatory  epistle  to  Calvinus, 

Ixvii 


INTRODUCTION 

who  has  been  defrauded  of  a  sum  of  ten  thousand 
sesterces  by  the  dishonesty  of  the  friend  to  whom  it 
had  been  entrusted.  In  offering  him  consolation, 
the  poet  not  only  uses  all  the  arguments  of  robust 
common  sense,  but  also  in  his  concluding  passages 
he  may  be  said  to  reach  the  high-water  mark  of 
pre-Christian  ethics  :  there  is  at  least  one  notable 
pronouncement  which  seems  to  breathe  the  very 
spirit  of  the  Gospel. 

Every  guilty  deed  brings  its  own  punishment  along 
Avith  it ;  no  guilty  man  can  escape  at  the  bar  of 
his  own  conscience.  Your  loss  is  one  of  every-day 
occurrence  ;  has  experience  not  taught  you  to  bear 
the  smallest  of  misfortunes  ?  Crime  of  every  kind 
is  rampant  amongst  us  ;  honest  men  are  not  more 
numerous  than  the  mouths  of  the  Nile  ;  it  is  mere 
simplicity  to  expect  any  man  nowadays  to  abstain 
from  perjury.  In  the  days  of  Saturn,  before  the 
heavens  were  crowded  with  their  present  mob  of 
divinities :  in  the  days  when  youth  stood  up  to 
reverence  old  age,  dishonesty  was  a  marvel  to  be 
wondered  at ;  but  in  these  days,  if  a  man  acknow- 
ledges a  trust,  and  restores  the  purse  entrusted  to 
him,  I  deem  him  a  prodigy.  I  liken  him  to  a  shower 
of  stones,  or  to  a  pregnant  mule,  or  to  a  river  running 
white  with  milk.  What  if  some  other  man  have 
lost  ten  times  as  much  as  you?  So  easy  is  it  to 
escape  the  notice  of  heaven  if  no  man  be  privy  to 
the   guilty  deed  !      Some  men  disbelieve  in  divine 

lxviii 


INTRODUCTION 

wrath ;  others  believe  in  it,  but  will  take  the  risk, 
provided  they  can  secure  the  cash  :  punishment 
they  argue,  may  perhaps  never  come  after  all ! 
Granted  that  loss  of  money  is  the  greatest  of  human 
calamities,  what  right  have  you  to  deem  yourself 
outside  the  common  lot  of  man,  as  though  hatched 
from  a  white  and  lucky  egg?  Look  at  the  list 
of  crimes  daily  brought  before  the  Court  and  dare 
to  call  yourself  unfortunate  !  Who  wonders  at  a 
swollen  neck  in  the  Alps,  or  at  blue  eyes  and  yellow 
hair  in  a  German  ? 

But  is  the  perjured  wretch  to  go  unpunished? 
you  ask.  Well,  if  the  man's  life  were  taken,  that 
would  not  bring  back  your  money';  and  when  you 
tell  me  that  vengeance  is  sweeter  than  life  itself, 
I  tell  you  that  none  think  so  but  the  ignorant,  and 
that  of  all  pleasures  vengeance  is  the  meanest.  You 
may  judge  of  it  by  this,  that  no  one  so  delights  in  it 
as  a  woman ! 

But  why  fancy  that  such  men  escape  punishment 
when  conscience  is  for  ever  wielding  its  unseen 
unheard  lash  over  their  guilty  souls  ?  What  punish- 
ment of  Caedicius  or  Rhadamanthus  can  be  so  terrible 
as  that  of  having  to  carry  one's  own  accusing  witness 
by  day  and  by  night,  within  one's  breast?  Truly 
spoke  the  Pythian  oracle  when  it  condemned  the  man 
who  returned  a  deposit,  not  for  conscience'  sake,  but 
from  fear ;  for  the  man  who  meditates  a  crime  within 
his  heart  has  all  the  guiltiness  of  the  deed.     If  he 

Ixix 


INTRODUCTION 

accomplishes  the  deed,  he  is  never  free  from  anguish  ; 
the  choicest  viands,  the  finest  wines,  offend  his  taste  ; 
when  his  tossed  limbs  at  length  sink  to  rest,  he  has 
visions  of  the  temple  and  the  altar  by  which  he  has 
forsworn  himself ;  your  image,  larger  than  life,  rises 
up  before  him  and  compels  him  to  confess.  These 
are  the  men  who  tremble  at  every  lightning-flash ; 
they  believe  that  every  rumbling  in  the  sky,  every 
sickness  they  have,  is  a  sign  of  the  wrath  of  heaven 
and  betokens  future  punishment.  And  yet  they  will 
not  mend  their  ways  ;  what  man  was  ever  content 
with  a  single  sin  ?  So  you  may  take  comfort  from 
this:  your  enemy  will  sin  once  again,  and  more  openly: 
his  fate  will  be '  the  prison  or  the  halter  ;  you  will 
rejoice  in  his  punishment,  and  enjoy  your  vengeance 
after  all  ! 

The  theme  of  the  14th  Satire  is  that  parental 
example  is  the  most  potent  of  educational  instru- 
ments. The  father  who  gambles,  or  gormandises,  or 
cruelly  abuses  his  slaves,  is  instructing  his  son  in  his 
own  vices  ;  the  mother  who  has  paramours  teaches 
her  daughter  to  be  unfaithful ;  clothed  with  parental 
authority,  such  examples  cannot  be  resisted.  Let 
fathers  therefore  see  to  it  that  no  foul  sight  be  seen, 
no  foul  word  be  heard,  within  their  doors  ;  let  them 
respect  their  child's  tender  years,  let  their  infant  son 
forbid  the  meditated  sin. 

When  you  expect  a  guest,  your  household  are  set 

lxx 


INTRODUCTION 

to  work  to  clean  and  scrub,  that  no  foul  spot  maj 
offend  the  stranger's  eye  :  and  will  you  not  bestir 
yourself  that  your  son  may  see  nothing  but  what  is 
pure  and  spotless  within  his  home  ?  The  stork,  the 
vulture,  the  eagle  all  follow  in  the  ways  pointed  out 
to  them  in  the  parental  nest.  Cretonius  half  ruined 
himself  by  building ;  his  son  completed  the  ruin  by 
building  grander  and  more  sumptuous  mansions. 
If  the  father  keeps  the  Sabbath,  the  son  will  carry 
his  superstition  further  still ;  he  will  flout  the  laws 
of  Rome,  and  observe  the  secret  rites  and  practices 
of  Moses. 

The  one  and  only  vice  which  the  young  practise 
unwillingly  is  that  of  avarice,  since  it  has  a  spurious 
appearance  of  virtue.  Hence  fathers  take  double 
pains,  both  by  precept  and  example,  to  instil  the 
love  of  money  into  their  sons ;  they  practise  the 
meanest  economies  that  they  may  be  wealthy  when 
they  die.  Our  hardy  ancestors,  broken  by  wounds 
and  years,  deemed  themselves  happy  with  a  reward 
of  two  acres,  which  to-day  would  not  be  thought  big 
enough  for  a  garden.  In  the  hurry  to  be  rich  no  law 
is  regai-ded,  no  crime  stops  the  way.  Foreign  purple 
has  banished  the  hardy  contentment  of  the  old 
Marsian  and  Hernican  heroes,  and  opened  the  door 
to  every  villainy.  When  the  father  bids  his  son  rise 
at  midnight  to  seek  for  gain,  telling  him  that  lucre 
smells  sweet  whatever  the  source  from  which  it 
comes,  he  is  instructing  him  to  cheat,  to  cozen,  and 

lxxi 


INTRODUCTION 

to  forswear  himself;  ay,  and  the  disciple  will  soon 
outstrip  his  teacher. 

It  is  as  good  as  a  play  to  watch  how  men  will 
brave  perils  of  storm  and  tempest  to  increase  their 
pile  of  cash  ;  not  for  mere  livelihood,  like  the  rope- 
dancer,  but  just  to  store  up  little  pieces  of  gold  and 
silver  stamped  with  tiny  images  !  Such  a  man  is  fit 
only  for  a  mad-house  ;  one  day  the  storm  will  engulf 
his  goods,  and  he  will  have  to  support  himself  by 
a  painted  shipwreck. 

To  guard  great  riches  is  as  burdensome  a  task  as 
to  acquire  them  ;  better  be  lodged  like  Diogenes, 
who,  if  his  tub  were  broken,  could  have  it  mended 
or  replaced  to-morrow.  If  you  ask  how  much  money 
should  suffice,  I  would  bid  you  have  enough  to  keep 
out  cold  and  hunger  ;  add  as  much  as  would  make 
up  the  fortune  of  a  knight ;  if  that  be  too  beggarly, 
make  it  double,  or  treble  the  amount  :  if  that  suffice 
you  not,  then  will  not  your  soul  be  satisfied  with  all 
the  wealth  of  Croesus  or  Narcissus  ! 

The  15th  Satire  gives  an  account  of  a  fierce  fight 
between  the  inhabitants  of  two  neighbouring  town- 
ships in  Egypt,  Ombi  and  Tentyra.  In  the  course 
of  the  battle  a  fleeing  Tentyrite  slipped  and  fell  ; 
his  body  was  at  once  torn  into  pieces  and  devoured 
by  the-  bloodthirsty  Ombites.  Juvenal  furiously 
denounces  the  crime  ;  and  it  gives  him  the  opportu- 
nity, in  a  beautiful  and  pathetic  passage,  of  declaring 

Ixxii 


INTRODUCTION 

that  the  tenderness  of  heart  evinced  by  the  capacity 
to  shed  tears  is  the  noblest  and  most  beautiful  of  the 
characteristics  of  man  ;  it  is  the  power  of  sympathy 
between  man  and  man  that  has  built  up  all  the 
elements  of  human  civilisation. 

The  16th  Satire,  which  is  only  half-finished,  is 
taken  up  with  recounting  the  various  privileges 
enjoyed  by  the  military.  No  civilian  can  get  justice 
against  a  soldier  ;  and  soldiers  have  special  privileges 
in  regard  to  property. 

The  MSS.  of  Juvenal 

The  text  on  which  this  translation  is  mainly  based 
is  that  of  Biicheler's  edition  of  1893.  That  text 
had  the  merit  of  giving  the  first  complete  account 
of  the  readings  of  P  (the  Codex  Pithoeanus),  the  most 
important  and  best  of  all  the  MSS.  of  Juvenal. 

Since  then,  however,  has  appeared  the  notable 
critical  edition  of  Professor  Housman  (1905),  who, 
without  contesting  the  general  superiority  of  P  over 
the  multitude  of  interpolated  MSS.,  has  shown  that 
it  cannot  be  accepted  as  a  sole  and  infallible  guide. 
He  protests  vigorously  against  the  indolent  style  of 
criticism  which,  having  discovered  one  MS.  to  be  the 
best  available,  sticks  to  it  through  thick  and  thin 
without  exercising  an  independent  judgment  upon 
it,  and  accepts,  almost  blindfold,  any  reading  pre- 

lxxiii 


INTRODUCTION 

sented  by  that  MS.  which  is  not  absolutely  im- 
possible. In  the  case  of  Juvenal,  Professor  Housman 
proposes  to  arrest  the  current  by  which  the  text 
of  each  succeeding  edition  of  Juvenal  stands  closer 
to  that  of  P,  and  produces  much  solid  evidence  to 
show  that,  in  many  cases,  the  readings  of  P,  even 
when  possible  both  in  Latinity  and  in  sense,  will  not 
stand  criticism,  and  that  the  readings  of  other  MSS. 
are  to  be  preferred  to  them. 

The  Pithoeanus  is  by  no  means  a  very  ancient 
MS.  It  dates  from  the  end  of  the  ninth  century, 
having  been  first  used  by  P.  Pithoeus  in  the  year 
1585.  It  was  lost  for  a  long  time,  but  was  re- 
discovered in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  centurv 
and  first  published  by  Otto  Jahn  in  his  edition  of 
1851.  It  contains  many  corrections  by  later  hands, 
designated  by  the  letter  p  ;  these  corrections  are 
mostly  of  little  value,  being  derived  from  one  or 
other  of  the  host  of  interpolated  MSS.  known 
generally  under  the  title  of  w.  Professor  Housman 
goes  so  far  as  to  assert  that  p  should  be  quoted  for 
one  purpose  and  for  one  purpose  only,  to  enable  us 
to  judge  what  the  reading  of  P  was  not. 

Shortly  put,  the  description  of  the  MSS.  of  Juvenal 
given  by  Professor  Housman  is  as  follows  : — 

The  great  merit  of  P  is  that  it  has  escaped,  almost 
entirely,  the  deluge  of  interpolation  which  has 
flooded  the  great  majority  of  Juvenalian  MSS.,  but 
it  is  not  itself  entirely  free  from  corruption.     One 

lxxiv 


INTRODUCTION 

source  of  corruption  is  that  its  original  readings  have 
been  often  corrected  by  later  hands  from  the  tenth 
century  onwards.  These  corrections,  indicated  by 
the  letter  p,  are  for  the  most  part  taken  from 
one  or  other  of  the  mass  of  inferior  interpolated 
MSS.,  but  their  faults  can  sometimes  be  repaired 
from  other  sources  which  are  more  closely  allied  to 
P  itself. 

Apart  from  P  and  the  host  of  interpolated  MSS. 
stand  three  important  fragmentaiy  sources,  viz.  : 
(1)  Scidae  Arovienses,  consisting  of  five  leaves  found 
at  Aarau  in  1880  ;  (2)  the  Florilegium  Sangallense ; 
(3)  third,  and  most  important,  are  the  lemmata  of 
the  ancient  scholia,  which  often  contain  the  correct 
reading  of  P  which  has  been  corrupted  in  the  text 
hyp. 

Over  against  P  and  its  small  cluster  of  kinsfolk 
stand  the  several  hundreds  of  Juvenal's  vulgar  MSS. 
dating  from  the  ninth  century  to  the  sixteenth, 
infected  one  and  all  with  a  plague  of  interpolation 
from  which  P  and  its  fellows  are  exempt.  Halfway 
between  the  two  camps  (older  than  P,  and  not 
much  interpolated)  lies  a  considerable  fragment,  the 
Codex  Vindobonensis  of  the  ninth  century,  contain- 
ing i.  1  to  ii.  59  and  ii.  107  to  v.  96.  After  these 
Professor  Housman  selects  seven  MSS.  of  the  inter- 
polated class,  which  he  calls  A,  F,  G,  L,  O,  T,  U, 
and  from  which  a  true  reading  or  its  traces  are  occa- 
sionally to  be  found.     To  these  MSS.  collectively  he 

lxxv 


INTRODUCTION 

gives  the  name  of  \f/,  and  as  a  result  of  his  examina- 
tion of  them  he  has  pointed  out  a  number  of  passages 
in  which  the  true  reading  is  to  be  found  in  one  or 
more  of  these  MSS.,  and  as  many  more  in  which 
their  readings  are  to  be  preferred  to  those  of  P. 
For  conspicuous  instances  of  mistakes  made  by  P  in 
verbal  forms  see  ix.  41,  x.  312,  xi.  184,  xiv.  113. 

Apart  from  all  other  MSS.  stands  the  fragment, 
the  palimpsestus  Bobie?isis  now  in  the  Vatican.  It  is 
assigned  to  the  end  of  the  fourth  century,  and 
contains  xiv.  324-xv.  43.  It  sometimes  agrees  with 
P,  sometimes  with  other  MSS. 

Lastly  come  the  ancient  Scholia  called  2,  and 
preserved  in  P.  They  are  very  old  and  often  indi- 
cate a  true  reading  not  in  the  MSS.1 

In  the  year  1910,  Dr.  Frederick  Leo  brought  out 
a  fifth  edition  of  Biicheler's  text  not  differing  much 
from  the  edition  of  1893  except  by  recognising  for 
the  first  time  the  genuineness  of  the  passage  in 
Sat.  vi.  (O  1-34,  coming  immediately  after  line  365) 
discovered  in  the  Bodleian  MS.  by  Mr.  E.  O.  Win- 
stedt  in  the  year  1899.  The  more  important  of  the 
changes  introduced  by  Dr.  Leo  are  mentioned  in  the 
critical  notes. 


1  The  above  description  of  the  MSS.  of  Juvenal  is  ab- 
breviated from  Professor  Housman's  Introduction,  pp.  vii  to 
xi ;  see  also  pp.  xvii  sqq.  and  xxii  sqq. 


Ixxvi 


INTRODUCTION 

The  MSS.  of  Persius 

The  text  of  Persius  is  in  a  much  better  condition 
than  that  of  Juvenal ;  Mr.  S.  G.  Owen  declares  that 
it  is  probably  purer  than  that  of  any  other  Roman 
writer,  and  stands  in  no  need  of  the  art  of  con- 
jecture.1 Amid  a  multitude  of  MSS.  three  stand 
out  of  conspicuous  merit ;  the  Montpellier,  212  (A)  ; 
the  Vatican,  H.  36  (B) ;  and  the  Montpellier,  125 
(P),  also  known  by  the  name  Pithoeanus,  being 
the  same  MS.  which  contains  also  the  whole  of 
Juvenal. 

Of  these  three  MSS.,  all  dating  from  the  nintb 
century,  A  and  B  are  so  closely  allied  that  they  are 
evidently  drawn  from  a  common  source.  The  sign 
a  denotes  the  agreement  of  these  two  MSS. 

Where  A  and  P  differ,  Biicheler,  in  his  edition  of 
1893,  gives  the  superiority  to  P  ;  Dr.  F.  Leo,  in  the 
4th  edition  (1910),  calls  in  the  assistance  of  the 
Laurentian  MS.  37.  19  (L),  of  the  eleventh  century, 
which  occasionally  preserves  the  true  reading  where 
both  A  and  P  are  manifestly  wrong  (e.g.  perona- 
lus,  v.  102;  crasso,  vi.  40;  ritu,  vi.  59;  exit,  vi.  68). 
L  shares  some  corruptions  with  P,  and  some  with 
a  ;  but  on  the  whole  it  is  more  closely  allied  to  a. 

Most  ancient  of  all  is  the  Fragmentum  Bobiense  of 
the  fourth  century,  which  contains  Pers.  i.  53-104, 
and  Juv.  xiv.  323-xv.  43. 

1  Preface  to  his  edition  of  Persius  and  Juvenal,  Clarendon 
Press,  1907. 

lxxvii 


INTRODUCTION 

Owen  takes  P  as  his  first  authority ;  he  follows 
A  B  P  when  they  agree,  and  prefers  P  when  they 
disagree,  correcting  palpable  mistakes  from  A  B. 
Owen  adds  to  his  list  Oxoniensis,  in  the  Bodleian 
Library  (O)  of  the  tenth  century,  and  Cantabri- 
giensis,  in  the  Trinity  College  Library  O.  iv.  10  (T), 
which  is  also  of  the  tenth  century. 

The  editions  of  Juvenal  are  innumerable.  Those 
which  I  have  found  the  most  useful  are  the 
following  : — 

G.  A.  Ruperti,  1801  and  1825. 

C.  F.  Heinrich,  1839. 

Dr.  Stocker  (including  Persius),  1845. 

Otto  Jahn,  1851  ;  re-edited  by  Biicheler  (including 

Persius)  in  1886,  1893,  and  by  F.  Leo  in  1910. 
Prof.  J.  E.  B.  Mayor,  1853  ;  enlarged  in  1869,  etc. 
A.  J.  Macleane  (including  Persius),  1857. 
G.  A.  Simcox  {Catena  Classicorum),  1867. 
J.  D.  Lewis  (with  translation),  1879. 
Pearson  and  Strong,  Clarendon  Press,  1887  and  1892. 
L.  Friedlander,  1895. 
J.  D.  Duff,  1898  and  1914. 
A.  E.  Housman,  critical  edition,  1905. 

Valuable  books  on  Juvenal  and  Persius  are  the 
following : — 

H.  Nettleship,  Lectures  and  Essays,  Second   Series, 

1895,  Arts.  II.  and  V. 
Friedlander,  Sittengeschichte  Iioms,  1869. 

Ixxviii 


INTRODUCTION 

Tyrrell,  Latin  Poetry,  pp.  216-259. 

H.  E.  Butler,  Post-Augustan  Poetry,  1900,  pp.  79-96, 

and  287-320. 
C.    Martha,    Les    Moralistes    sous    I' Empire    Romain, 

1866. 
A.  Vidal,  Juvenal  et  ses  Satires,  1869. 
Merivale's  History  of  the  Romans  under  the  Empire, 

Vol.  VII.,  Chap.  lxiv. 
S.  Dill,  Roman  Society  from  Nero  to  Marcus  Aurelius, 

1904,  Chap.  ii.  ' 
Smith's  Classical  Dictionaries. 

As  might  be  expected  Avith  such  popular  authors, 
Juvenal  and  Persius  have  been  frequently  trans- 
lated, and  into  many,  languages.  The  most  famous 
translations  of  both  authors  into  English  verse  are 
the  quaint  version  of  Holyday  (1673)  and  the 
vigorous  and  scholarly  version  of  Gifford  (1802), 
which  may  still  be  read  with  pleasure.  Dryden  has 
translated  five  of  Juvenal's  Satires,  and  the  whole 
of  Persius,  into  the  true  Drydenic  style ;  and 
Johnson  has  achieved  immortality  by  his  inimitable 
translation — or  rather  paraphrase — of  Sat.  hi.,  under 
the  title  London,  and  of  Sat.  x.,  under  the  title  The 
Vanity  of  Human  Wishes.  Of  prose  translations  of 
Juvenal  especial  mention  may  be  made  of  the  trans- 
lation of  thirteen  Satires  (omitting  ii,  vi,  and  ix)  by 
S.  G.  Owen  (Clarendon  Press,  1903),  of  the  same 
by  Strong  and  Leeper  (Macmillan,  1882),  also  a  re- 
vised version  by  Mr.  Leeper  alone  (Macmillan,  1912), 

lxxix 


INTRODUCTION 

and  of  that  by  Mr.  J.  D.  Lewis  (1879).  Mr.  S.  H. 
Jeyes  has  translated  the  whole  of  the  sixteen  Satires 
(1885),  as  also  the  Rev.  S.  Evans  (1869)  (Bonn's 
Library). 

Of  the  numerous  editions  of  Persius  the  most 
famous  is  the  great  Classical  Edition  of  Isaac 
Casaubon  (Paris,  1605),  which  has  been  often  re- 
printed, and  which  has  served  as  a  groundwork  of 
all  subsequent  editions  of  the  poet.  Among  later 
editions  may  especially  be  mentioned  those  of  G.  L. 
Koenig  (1803^  and  1825);  Otto  Jahn  (1843),  in- 
cluded with  Juvenal  in  the  edition  re-edited  by 
Biicheler  and  Leo;  C.  F.  Heinrich  (1844);  A.  J. 
Macleane  (along  with  Juvenal)  (1857) ;  above  ail 
that  of  J.  Conington  (1872);  and  A.  Pretor  (Catena 
Classicorum)  (1868). 

In  translating  Persius  I  have  paidthe  greatest  atten- 
tion to  the  well-known  translation  of  J.  Conington, 
Corpus  Professor  of  Latin  in  the  University  of  Oxford, 
which  is  by  far  the  best  existing  version  of  that 
author. 


lxxx 


MSS.    OF    JUVENAL  AS    GIVEN    IN    PROFESSOR 
HOUSMAN'S   EDITION,  1905 

Bob.  =codicis  Bobiensia,  Vaticani  5750,  fragmentum. 

P  =  codex  Pithoeanus,  Montepessulanus  125. 

p  =  codicis  Pithoeani  corrector. 
Arou.=scidae  Arouienses. 
flor  Sang.  =  codicis  Sangallensis  870  florilegium.  , 

S  =  lemmata  scholiorum  in  P  et  Sang.  870  aeruatorum. 
Vind.  =codex  Vindobonensis  107,  mutilus. 

¥= codices  AFGLOTU  vel  eorum  plures. 
A  =  codex  Monacensis  408. 
F= codex  Parisiensis  8071. 
G  =  codex  Parisiensis  7900*. 
L= codex  Leidensis  82. 

0  =  codex  Canonicianus  class.  Lat.  41,  Bodleianus. 
T=  codex  O,  IV,  10  collegii  Trinitatis,  Cantabrigi. 
ensis. 

U= codex  Vrbinas  661,  Vaticanus. 
5  =  scholiastes  in  P  et  Sang.  870  seruatus. 


lxxxi 


MSS.    OF    PERSIUS    AS    GIVEN    IN    BUECHELER'S 
FOURTH  EDITION  REVISED  BY  F.  LEO,  1910 

P  =  codex  Montepessulanus  125. 
A  =  codex  Montepessulanus  212.  \ 

B  =  codex  Vaticanus  tabularii  basilicae  H  36 / 
L  =  codex  Laurentianus  37,  19. 

P1?2  distinguit  librarium  a  correctore,  Pd  scripturam 

ab  ipso  librario   correctam   significat.     item   da 

ABL. 
E  =  folium  Bobiense  (1,53—104). 
<p  =  codices  alii  vetusti,  f  recentas. 
scb.  =scbolion. 


Ixxxii 


THE  SATIRES  OF  JUVENAL 


s 


IVVENALIS    SATVRAE 


SATVRA  I 

Semper  ego  auditor  tantum  ?  numquamne  reponam 
vexatus  totiens  rauci  Theseide  Cordi  ? 
inpune  ex-go  mihi  recitaverit  ille  togatas, 
hie  elegos  ?     inpune  diem  consumpserit  ingens 
Telephus  aut  summi  plena  iam  margine  libri  5 

scriptus  et  in  tergo  necdum  finitus  Orestes  ? 
nota  magis  nulli  domus  est  sua  quam  mihi  lucus 
Martis  et  Aeoliis  vicinum  rupibus  antrum 
Vulcani.     Quid  agant  venti,  quas  torqueat  umbras 
Aeacus,  unde  alius  furtivae  devehat  aurum  10 

pelliculae,  quantas  iaculetur  Monychus  ornos, 
Frontonis  platani  convulsaque  marmora  clamant 
semper  et  adsiduo  ruptae  lectore  columnae  : 
expectes  eadem  a  summo  minimoque  poeta. 
et  nos  ergo  manum  ferulae  subduximus,  et  nos        15 

1  An  epic  poem.         2  Names  of  tragedies. 
3  One  of  the  judges  in  Hades.         4  Jason. 
6  A  Centaur,  alluding  to  the  battle  between  the  Centaurs 
and  the  Lapithae. 

2 


THE  SATIRES   OF  JUVENAL 

SATIRE  I 

DlFFICIIE    EST   SATURAM    NON    ScRIBERE 

What?  Am  I  to  be  a  listener  only  all  mxdgIL'' 
Ani  I  never  to  get  my  word  in— J  that  have  been  so 
often  bored  uy  tiie  ineseid1  of  the  ranting  Cordus  ? 
Shall  this  one  have  spouted  to  me  his  comedies,  and 
that  one  his  love  ditties,  and  I  be  unavenged  ?  Shall 
I  have  no   revenge  on  one  who    has  taken  up  the 
whole  day  with  an  interminable  Telephus,2  or  with 
an  Orestes,2  which,  after  filling  the  margin  at  the  top 
of  the  roll  and  the  back  as  well,   hasn't  even  yet 
come  to  an  end  ?     No  one  knows  his  own  house  so 
well  as  I  know  the  groves  of  Mars,  and  the  cave  of 
Vulcan  near  the  cliffs  of  Aeolus.     What  the  winds 
are  brewing  ;  whose  souls  Aeacus  3  has  on  the  rack  ; 
from  what  country  another  worthy4  is  carrying  off 
that  stolen  golden  fleece  ;  how  big  are  the  ash  trees 
which  Monychus  5  tosses  about :  these  are  the  themes 
with  which  Fronto's 6  plane  trees  and  marble  halls 
are   for   ever   ringing   until   the   pillars  quiver  and 
quake  under  the  continual  recitations  ;  such  is  the 
kind   of  stuff  you    may  look  for   from    every  poet, 
greatest  or  least.     Well,  I  too  have  slipped  my  hand 
from  under  the  cane ;  I  too  have  counselled  Sulla  to 

'  A  rich  patron  who  lends  his  house  for  recitations. 

B    2 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   1 

consilium  dedimus  Sullae,  privatus  ut  altuin 

dormiret ;  stulta  est  dementia,,  cum  tot  ubique 

vatibus  occurras,  periturae  parcere  chavtae. 

cur  tamen  hoc  potius  libeat  decurrere  campo 

per  quern  magnus  equos  Auruncae  flexit  alumnus,    20 

si  vacat  ac  placidi  rationem  admittitis,  edam. 

Cum  tener  uxorem  ducat  spado,  Mevia  Tuscum 
figat  aprum  et  nuda  teneat  venabula  mamma, 
patricios  omnis  opibus  cum  provocet  unus 
quo  tondente  gravis  iuveni  mihi  barba  sonabat,       25 
cum  pars  Niliacae  plebis,  cum  verna  Canopi 
Crispinus  Tyrias  umero  revocante  lacernas 
ventilet  aestivum  digitis  sudantibus  aurum, 
nee  sufferre  queat  maioris  pondera  gemmae, 
difficile    est   saturam   non   scribere.     nam    quis 

iniquae 
tam  patiens  urbis,  tarn  ferreus,  ut  teneat  se, 
causidici  nova  cum  veniat  lectica  Mathonis 
plena  ipso,  post  hunc  magni  delator  amici 
et  cito  rapturus  de  nobilitate  comesa 
quod  superest,  quern  Massa  timet,  quern  munere 

palpat1  35 

Cams  et  a  trepido  Thymele  summissa  Latino  ? 
cum  te  summoveant  qui  testamenta  mejentur  ^ 
noctibus,2  in  caelum  quos  eveliit  optima  summi 
nunc  via  processus,  vetulae  vesica  beatae  ? 

1  palpat  is  omitted  by  P. 

1  noctibus  Vind.^  :  non  tibi  P. 


i  Referring  to  the  retirement  of  Sulla  from  public  life  in 
b  c.  79.  Such  themes  would  be  prescribed  to  schoolboys  as 
rhetorical  exercises,  of  the  kind  called  suasoriae.  See  Mayor  s 
n.  and  Sat.  vii.  150-170. 

2  Lucilius,  the  first  Roman  satirist,  B  C.  14b-lUrf. 

3  Some  barber  who  had  made  a  fortune.  The  line  is 
repeated  in  x.  226. 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE    I 

retire  from  public  life  and  sleep  his  fill l ;  it  is  a 
foolish  clemency  when  you  jostle  against  poets  at 
every  corner,  to  spare  paper  that  will  be  wasted 
anyhow.  But  if  you  can  give  me  time,  and  will  listen 
quietly  to  reason,  I  will  tell  you  why  I  prefer  to  run 
in  the  same  course  over  which  the  great  nursling  of 
Aurunea2  drove  his  steeds. 

22  When  a  soft  eunuch  takes  to  matrimony,  ana 
Maevia,  with  spear  in  hand  and  breasts  exposed,  to 
pig-sticking ;  when  a  fellow  under  whose  razor  my 
stiff  youthful  beard  used  to  grate  3  challenges,  with 
his  single  wealth,  the  whole  nobility ;  when  a  gutter- 
snipe   of    the    Nile    like    Crispinus4-a   slave-born 
denizen  of  Canopus 5 — hitches  a  Tyrian  cloak  on  to 
his  shoulder,  whilst  on  his  sweating  finger  he  airs  a 
summer  ring  of  gold,  unable  to  endure  the  weight  of 
a  heavier  gem^jj^js  hard  not  to  write  satire. .   For 
who  can  be  so  tolerant  of  this  monstrous  city,  who 
so  iron  of  soul,  as  to  contain  himself  when  the  brand- 
new  litter  of  lawyer  Matho  comes  along,  filled  with 
his  huge   self;    after   him    one   who   has    informed 
against  his  noble  patron  and  will  soon  sweep  away  the 
remnant  of  our  nobility  already  gnawed  to  the  bone- 
one  whom  Massa6  dreads,  whom  Carus0  propitiates  by 
a  bribe,  and  to  whom  Thymele7  was  sent  as  envoy  by 
the  terrified  Latinus ; 7  when  you  are  thrust  on  one 
side  by  men  who  earn  legacies  by  nightly  perform- 
ances, uiid  are  raised  to  heaven  by  that  now  royal 
road  to  high    preferment— the   favours  of  an  aged 
and  wealthy  woman  ?     Each  of  the  lovers  will  have 

4  A  favourite  aversion   of   Juvenal's  as  a  rich  Egyptian 
parvenu   who   had   risen    to    be  princeps   equitum.     See  iv 
1,  31,  108.  5  A  city  in  the  Nile  Delta. 

*  Notorious  informers  under  Doniitian. 

'  Both  actors  :  the  allusion  is  not  known. 


• 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    I 

unciolam  Proculeius  habet,  sed  Gillo  deuncem,        40 
partes  quisque  suas  ad  mensuram  inguinis  heres. 
accipiat  sane  mercedem  sanguinis,  et  sic 
palleat  ut  nudis  pressit  qui  calcibus  anguem 
aut  Lugudunensem  rhetor  dicturus  ad  aram. 

Quid  refei-arn  quanta  siccum  iecur  ardeat  ira,       45 
cum  populum  gregibus  comitum  premit  hie  spoliator 
pupilli  prostantis  et  hie  damnatus  inani 
iudicio  ?     quid  enim  salvis  infamia  nummis  ? 
exul  ab  octava  Marius  bibit  et  fruitur  dis 
iratiSj  at  tu  victrix  pi'ovincia  ploras.  50 

Haec  ego  non  credam  Venusina  digna  lucerna  ? 
haec  ego  non  agitem  ?     sed  quid  magis  Heracleas 
aut  Diomedeas  aut  mugitum  labyrinth i 
et  mare  percussum  puero  fabrumque  volantem, 
cum  leno  accipiat  moechi  bona,  si  capiendi  55 

ius  nullum  uxori,  doctus  spectare  lacunar, 
doctus  et  ad  calicem  vigilanti  stertere  naso  ? 
cum  fas  esse  putet  curam  sperare  cohortis 
qui  bona  donavit  praesepibus  et  caret  omni 
maiorum  censu,  dum  pervolat  "axe  citato  60 

Flaminiam  puer  Automedon  ?    nam  lora  tenebat 
ipse,  lacernatae  cum  se  iactaret  amicae. 

1  Alluding  to  a  rhetorical  contest  instituted  at  Lyons  by 
Caligula  (Suet.  Cal  20).  Severe  and  humiliating  punishments 
were  inflicted  on  those  defeated  in  these  contests. 

2  Condemned  for  extortion  in  Africa  in  a.d.  100. 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   I 

his  share  ;  Proculeius  a  twelfth  part,  Gillo  eleven 
parts,  each  in  proportion  to  the  magnitude  of  his 
services.  Let  each  take  the  price  of  his  own  blood, 
and  turn  as  pale  as  a  man  who  has  trodden  upon 
a  snake  bare-footed,  or  of  one  who  awaits  his  turn 
to  orate  before  the  altar  at  Lugdunum.1 

45  Why  tell  how  my  heart  burns  hot  with  rage 
when  I  see  the  people  hustled  by  a  mob  of  retainers 
attending  on  one  who  has  defrauded  and  debauched 
his  ward,  or  on  another  who  has  been  condemned  by 
a  futile  verdict — for  what  mattei's  infamy  if  the  cash 
be  kept?  The  exiled  Marius2  carouses  from  the 
eighth  hour  of  the  day  and  revels  in  the  wrath  of 
Heaven,  while  you,  poor  Province,  win  your  cause 
and  weep  ! 

51  JVIust  I  not  deem  these  things  worthy  of  the 
Venusian's  ^  lamp?  Must  I  not  have  my  fling  at  them  ? 
Should  I  do  better  to  tell  tales  about  Hercules,  or  Dio- 
mede,  or  the  bellowing  in  the  Labyrinth,  or  about  the 
flying  carpenter 4  and  the  lad  5  who  splashed  into 
the  sea ;  and  that  in  an  age  when  the  compliant 
husband,  if  his  wife  may  not  lawfully  inherit,6 
takes  money  from  her  paramour,  being  well  trained 
to  keep  his  eyes  upon  the  ceiling,  or  to  snore  with 
wakeful  nose  over  his  cups ;  an  age  when  one  who 
has  squandered  his  family  fortunes  upon  horse  flesh 
thinks  it  right  and  proper  to  look  for  the  command 
of  a  cohort  ?  See  him  dashing  at  break-neck  speed, 
like  a  very  Automedon,7  along  the  Flaminian  way, 
holding  the  reins  himself,  while  he  shows  himself  off 
to  his  great-coated  mistress  ! 

3  Horace  was  born  at  Venusia  B.C.  65. 

4  Daedalus.  5  Icarus. 
i.e.  be  legally  incapacitated  from  taking  an  inheritance. 


6 


7  The  charioteer  of  Achilles. 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   I 

Nonne  libet  medio  ceras  inplere  capaces 
quadrivio,  cum  iam  sexta  cervice  feratur 
hinc  atque  inde  patens  ac  nuda  paene  cathedra       65 
et  multum  i-eferens  de  Maecenate  supino 
signator  falsi/  qui  se  lautum  atque  beatum 
exiguis  tabulis  et  gemma  fecerit  uda  ? 

Occurrit  matrona  potens,  quae  molle  Calenum 
porrectura  viro  miscet  sitiente  rubetam  70 

instituitque  rudes  melior  Lucusta  propinquas 
per  famam  et  populum  nigros  efferre  maritos. 
aude  aliquid  brevibus  Gyaris  et  carcere  dignum, 
si  vis  esse  aliquid  ;  probitas  laudatur  et  alget. 
criminibus  debent  hortos  praetoria  mensas,  75 

argentum  vetus  et  stantem  extra  pocula  caprum. 
quern  patitur  dormire  nurus  corruptor  avarae, 
quern  sponsae  turpes  et  praetextatus  adulter  ? 
si  natura  negat,  facit  indignatio  versum 
qualemcumque  potest,  quales  ego  vel  Cluvienus.      80 

Ex  quo  Deucalion\nimbis  tollentibus  aequor, 
navigio  montem  ascendit  sortesque  poposcit, 
paulatimque  anima  caluerunt  mollia  saxa 
et  maribus  nudas  ostendit  Pyrrha  puellas, 
quidquid  agunt  homines,  votum  timor  ira  voluptas    85 
gaudia  discursus,  nostri  farrago  libelli  est. 

1  falsi  P :  /also  \p. 

1  Calenian  and  Falernian  were  two  of  the  most  famous 
Roman  wines. 

2  A  notorious  poisoner  under  Nero. 

3  A  small  island  in  the  Aegean  Sea  on  which  criminals 
were  confined. 

8 


JUVENAL,   SATIRE   1 

63  Would  you  not  like  to  fill  up  a  whole  note-book 
at  the  street  crossings  when  you  see  a  forger  borne 
along  upon  the  necks  of  six  porters,  and  exposed  to 
view  on  this  side  and  on  that  in  his  almost  naked 
litter,  and  reminding  you  of  the  lounging  Maecenas  : 
one  who  by  help  of  a  scrap  of  paper  and  a  moistened 
seal  has  converted  himself  into  a  fine  and  wealthy 
gentleman?- 

69  Then  up  comes  a  lordly  dame  who,  when  her 
husband  wants  a  drink,  mixes  toad's  blood  with  his 
old  Calenian,1  and  improving  upon  Lucusta  2  herself, 
teaches  her  artless  neighbours  to  brave  the  talk  of 
the  town  and  carry  forth  to  burial  the  blackened 
corpses  of  their  husbands.  If  you  want  to  be  any- 
body ^nowadays,  you  mus£  dare  Mtoe  crimethat 
mgritrBanuw  Qvam»-or~a~  gaol  ;  honesty  is  praised 
afiSCsiarves:  It  is  to  their  crimes  that  men  owe 
their  pleasure-grounds  and  high  commands,  their  fine 
tables  and  old  silver  goblets  with  goats  standing  out 
in  relief.  Who  can  get  sleep  for  thinking  of  a  money- 
loving  daughter-in-law  seduced,  of  brides  that  have 
lost  their  virtue,  or  of  adulterers  not  out  of  their 
'teens  ?  Though  nature  say  me  nay,  indignation  will 
prompt  my  verse,  of  whatever  kind  it  be— such 
verse  as  I  can  write,  or  Cluvienus  !  4 

81  From  the  day  when  the  rain-clouds  lifted  up  the 
waters,  and  Deucalion  climbed  that  mountain  in  his 
ship  to  seek  an  oracle— that  day  when  stones  grew 
soft  and  warm  with  life,  and  Pyrrha  showed  maidens 
m  nature's  garb  to  men-^alUhe  doings  of  mankind. 
their  vows,  their  fears,  their  a~n~g~ers  and  their  plea- 
sures, their  joys  and  goings  to  and  fro,  shall  form  the 
motley  subiecl  of  my  page.  Fc-r  when  was  Vice  m7>re 
4  Unknown  ;  some  scribbler  of  the  day. 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    I 

et  quando  uberior  vitiorum  copia  ?     quando 

maior  avaritiae  patuit  sinus  ?    alea  quando 

hos  animos  ?  neque  enim  loculis  comitantibus  itur 

ad  casum  tabulae,  posita  sed  ludituv  area.  90 

proelia  quanta  illic  dispensatore  videbis 

armigero  !    simplexne  furor  sestertia  centum 

perdere  et  horrenti  tunicam  non  reddere  servo  ? 

quis  totidem  erexit  villas,  quis  fercula  septem 

secreto  cenavit  avus  ?    nunc  sportula  primo  95 

limine  parva  sedet  turbae  rapienda  togatae  ; 

ille  tamen  faciem  prius  inspicit  et  trepidat  ne 

snppositus  \enias  ac  falso  nomine  poscas  : 

agnitus  accipies.     iubet  a  praecone  vocari 

ipsos  Troiugenas,  nam  vexant  limen  et  ipsi  100 

nobiscum.     "da  praetori,  da  deinde  tribuno." 

sed  libertinus  prior  est.    "  prior  "  inquit  "  ego  adsum. 

cur  timeam  dubitemve  locum  defendere  ?  quamvis 

natus  ad  Eupbraten,  molles  quod  in  aure  fenesti-ae 

arguerint,  licet  ipse  negem,  sed  quinque  tabernae  105 

quadringenta  parant.     quid  confert  purpura  maior 

optandum,  si  Laurenti  custodit  in  agro 

conductas  Corvinus  oves,  ego  possideo  plus 

Pallante  et  Licinis?  "  expectent  ergo  tribuni, 

vincant  divitiae,  sacro  ne  cedat  honori  110 

nuper  in  banc  urbem  pedibus  qui  venerat  albis, 


1  The  fortune  required  of  a  knight  (the  census  equeslris) 
was  400,000  sesterces. 

2  The   broad  purple   stripe  {latus  clavus)  on  the  tunic  of 
senators. 

3  One  of  an  ancient  Roman  family. 

io 


JUVENAL,   SATIRE   I 


rampant  ?    When  did  the  maw  of  Avarice  gape  wider  ? 

vVjjenwas  gambling  so  reckless  ?~"TVIen  rnmp  nntnnw 
with  purses  to  the  hazard  of  the  gaming  table,  but  with 
a  treasure-chest  beside  them.     What  battles  will  you 
there  see  waged  with  a  steward  for  armour-bearer ! 
Is  it  a  simple  form  of  madness  to  lose  a  hundred 
thousand  sesterces,  and  not  have  a  shirt  to  give  to  a 
shivering  slave?     Which   of  our  grandfathers  built 
such  numbers  of  villas,  or  dined  by  himself  off  seven 
courses?     Look  now  at  the  meagre  dole  set  down 
upon  the  threshold  for  a  toga-clad  mob  to  scramble 
for !     The  patron  first  peers  into  your  face,  fearing 
that  you  may  be  claiming  under  someone  else's  name  : 
once  recognised,  you  will  get  your  share.     He  tnen 
bids  the  crier  call  up  the  Trojan-blooded  nobles— for 
they  too  besiege   the    door   as  well  as  we:    "The 
Praetor  first,"  says  he,  "and  after  him  the  Tribune." 
"But  I  was  here  first,"  says  a  freedman  who  stops 
the  way;    "why  should  I  be  afraid,  or  hesitate  to 
keep  my  place  ?     Though  born  on  the  Euphrates— a 
fact  which  the  little  windows  in  my  ears  would  testify 
though  I  myself  denied  it— yet  I  am  the  owner  of 
five  shops  which  bring  me  in   four  hundred  thou- 
sand sesterces.1     What  better  thing  does  the  Broad 
Purple  2  bestow  if  a  Corvinus  3  herds  sheep  for  daily 
wage  in  the    Laurentian   country,  while    I    possess 
more  property  than  either  a  Pallas  or  a  Licinus  ?  "4 
So  let  the  Tribunes   await  their  turn;    let  money 
carry  the  day  ;  let  the  sacred  office  5  give  way  to  one 
who  came  but  yesterday  with  whitened6  feet  into 

*  Pallas  and  Licinus  were  wealthy  freedmen. 

•  The  persons  of  the  Tribunes  of  the  Plebs  were  sacrosanct, 
blaves  imported  for  sale  had  white  chalk-marks  on  their 

feet. 

II 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    I 

quandoquidem  inter  nos  sanctissima  divitiarum 
maiestas,  etsi  funesta  pecunia  templo 
nondum  habitas,1  nullas  nummorum  ereximus  aras, 
ut  colitur  Pax  atque  2  Fides  Victoria  Virtus  115 

quaeque  salutato  crepitat  Concordia  nido. 

Sed  cum  summus  honor  finito  conputet  anno, 
sportula  quid  referat,  quantum  rationibus  addat, 
quid  facient  comites  quibus  hinc  toga,  calceus  hinc  est 
et  panis  fumusque  domi  ?    densissima  centum        120 
quadrantes  lectica  petit,  sequiturque  maritum 
languida  vel  praegnas  et  circumducitur  uxor, 
hie  petit  absenti  nota  iam  callidus  arte 
ostendens  vacuam  et  clausam  pro  coniuge  sellam 
11  Gallamea  est"  inquit,  " citius  dimitte.  moraris  ?  125 
profer,  Galla,  caput,     noli  vexare,  quiescit."3 

Ipse  dies  pulchro  distinguitur  ordine  rerum : 
sportula,  deinde  forum  iurisque  peritus  Apollo 
atque  triumphales,  inter  quas  ausus  habere 
nescio  quis  titulos  Aegyptius  atque  Arabarches,     130 
cuius  ad  effigiem  non  tantum  meiere  fas  est. 
vestibulis  abeunt  veteres  lassique  clientes 
votaque  deponunt,  quamquam  longissima  cenae 
spes  homini ;  caulis  miseris  atque  ignis  emendus. 
optima  sil varum  interea  pelagique  vorabit  135 

1  habitas  ty  :  habitat  P  Vind.OT  Biich.Housm. 

2  In  place  of  the  dull  atque  of  P^,  Dr.  Postgate,  supported 
by  the  reading  firma  found  in  the  MS.  IT,  has  made  the 
brilliant  conj.  Fama,  approved  by  L.  Ha  vet.  See  Class. 
Quart,  iii.  p.  67. 

3  quiescit  Vind.i^  :  quiescaet  P:  quiescet  Biich.Housm. 

12 


JUVENAL,   SATIRE   I 

our  city.  Fjpr  no  deity  is  held  in  such  reverence 
amongst  us  as  Weallth  :  though  as  yet,  O  baneful 
money,  thou  hast  no  temple  of  thine  own ;  not  yet 
jiave  we  reared  altars  to  Money  in  like  manner  as  we 
worship  Peace  and~Honour,  Victory  andTFtue.  orthat 
"XoncorcPtKat  twitters  when  we  saTute  her  nesjb. 

117  If  therTTne  great  officers  ot  state  reckon  up  at 
the  end  of  the  year  how  much  the  dole  brings  in, 
how  much  it  adds  to  their  income,  what  shall  we 
dependants  do  who,  out  of  the  self-same  dole,  have 
to  find  ourselves  in  coats  and  shoes,  in  the  bread  and 
fire  of  our  homes?  A  mob  of  litters  comes  in  quest 
of  the  hundred  farthings ;  here  is  a  husband  going 
the  round,  followed  by  a  sickly  or  pregnant  wife ; 
another,  by  a  clever  and  well-known  trick,  claims  for 
a  wife  that  is  not  there,  pointing,  in  her  stead,  to  a 
closed  and  empty  chair  :  «  My  Galla's  in  there,"  says 
he;  "let  us  off  quick,  will  you  not?"  "  Galla,  put 
out  your  head  !  "    "  Don't  disturb  her,  she's  asleep  !  " 

127  The  day  itself  is  marked  out  by  a  fine  round 
of  business.  First  comes  the  dole  ;  then  the  courts, 
and  Apollo  2  learned  in  the  law,  and  those  triumphal 
statues  among  which  some  Egyptian  Arabarch3  or 
other  has  dared  to  set  up  his  titles ;  against  whose 
statue  more  than  one  kind  of  nuisance  may  be  com- 
mitted !  Wearied  and  hopeless,  the  old  clients  leave 
the  door,  though  the  last  hope  that  a  man  relinquishes 
is  that  of  a  dinner ;  the  poor  wretches  must  buy  their 
cabbage  and  their  fuel.  Meanwhile  their  lordly  patron 
will  be  devouring  the  choicest  products  of  wood  and 

1  The  temple  of  Concord,  near  the  Capitol.     Storks  built 
their  nests  on  the  temple. 

2  A  statue  of  Apollo  in  the  Forum  Avgusti. 

3  Probably  an  allusion   to  Julius  Alexander,  a  Jew  who 
was  Prefect  of  Egypt  a.d.  67-70. 

13 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   I 

rex  horurrij  vacuisque  toris  tantuni  ipse  iacebit. 
nam  de  tot  pulchris  et  latis  oi'bibus  et  tarn 
antiquis  una  comedunt  patrimonia  mensa. 
nullus  iam  parasitus  erit.     sed  quis  ferat  istas 
luxuriae  sordes?  quanta  est  gula  quae  sibi  totos    140 
ponit  apros,  animal  propter  convivia  natum ! 
poena  tamen  praesens,  cum  tu  deponis  amictus 
turgidus  et  crudum 1  pavonem  in  balnea  poi'tas. 
hinc  subitae  mortes  atque  intestata  2  senectus ; 
it3  nova  nee  tristis  per  cunctas  fabula  cenas :         145 
ducitur  iratis  plaudendum  funus  amicis. 

Nil  erit  ulterius  quod  nostris  moribus  addat 
posteritas,  eadem  facient  cupientque  minores, 
oinne  in  praecipiti  vitium  stetit.     utere  velis, 
totos  pande  sinus,     dicas  4  hie  forsitan  "  unde         150 
ingenium  par  materiae  ?     unde  ilia  priorum 
scribendi  quodcumque  animo  flagrante  liberet 
simplicitas  ?     f  cuius  non  audeo  dicere  nomen  ? 
quid  refert,  dictis  ignoscat  Mucius  an  non  ? ' 
pone  Tigellinum  :  taeda  lucebis5  in  ilia  155 

qua  stantes  ardent  qui  fixo  gutture  6  fumant, 
et  latum  media  sulcum  deducis7  harena. 

1  P  lias  crudus  :  crudum  <h  etc. 

2  intestata.     See  Glass.  Rev.  1899,  pp.  432-4. 

3  So  AL  and  Housm.:  Biich.  follows  the  et  of  P. 

4  dicas  \p  :  dices  PO :  Housm.  prefers  dicas ;  see  Journal 
of  Phil.  No.  67,  p.  43.         5  P  has  lucebit :  so  also  GT. 

6  Biich.  (1893  edn.)  reads  pectore,  as  do  PAO  and  Owen  : 
gutture  is  read  by  Vind.GLTU.  So  Housm.  ;  see  Journal 
of  Phil.  No.  67,  p.  45. 

7  So  pO  :  deducit  P  Housm. :  Biich.  (1910)  conj.  ducetis. 
Owen  conj.  dent  lucis,  reading  ut  for  et.  Housm.  supposes 
a  line  dropped  out  after  1.  156,  containing  the  word  cadaver 
which  becomes  the  subject  to  deducit. 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  I 

sea,  lying  alone  upon  an  empty  couch ;  for  at  a 
single  one  of  their  fine  large  and  antique  tables 
they  devour  whole  fortunes.  Ere  long  no  parasites, 
will  hp  ]pft  I  Whr>  rvnii  bear  to  see  luxury  so  mean  ? 
What  a  huge  gullet  ~to  have  a  whole  boar— an 
animal  created  for  conviviality — served  up  to  it ! 
But  you  will  soon  pay  for  it,  my  friend,  when  you 
take  off  your  clothes,  and  with  distended  stomach 
carry  your  peacock  into  the  bath  undigested ! 
Hence  a  sudden  death,  and  an  intestate  old  age  ; 
the  new  and  merry  tale  runs  the  round  of  every 
dinner-table,  and  the  corpse  is  carried  forth  to 
burial  amid  the  cheers  of  enraged  friends  ! 

117  To  thesjsways  of  ours  Posterity  will  have  no- 
thing to  adprTour  grandchildre1o"~will  do  the  same 

,  things,  and  desire  the  same  things,  that  we  do.     ATI  . 

^vice  is  at  its  acme  ; l  up  with  your  sails  and  shake  out 
every  stitch  of  canvas  !  Here  perhaps  you  will  say, 
"  Where  find  the  talent  to  match  the  theme  ? 
Where  find  that  freedom  of  our  forefathers  to  write 
whatever  the  burning  soul  desired  ?  '  What  man  is 
there  that  I  dare  not  name  ?  What  matters  it 
whether  Mucius  forgives  my  words  or  no?2'"  But 
just  describe  Tigellinus3  and  you  Avill  blaze  amid 
those  faggots  in  which  men,  with  their  throats 
tightly  gripped,  stand  and  burn  and  smoke,  and  you  4 
trace  a  broad  furrow  through  the  middle  of  the  arena. 

1  The  phrase  is  difficult.  Duff  translates  "Vice  always 
stands  above  a  sheer  descent,"  and  therefore  soon  reaches  its 
extreme  point. 

2  Apparently  a  quotation  from  Lucilius,  being  an  attack 
on  P.  Mucius  Scaevola. 

3  An  infamous  favourite  of  Nero's. 

4  i  e.  "your  body."  The  passage  refers  to  the  burning  of 
the  early  Christians,  and  the  dragging  of  their  remains  across 
the  arena. 

i5 


160 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    II 

Qui  dedit  ergo  tribus  patruis  aconita,  vehatur 
pensilibus  plumis  atque  illinc  despiciat  nos  ? 
"  cum  veniet  contra,  digito  compesce  labellum  : 
accusator  erit  qui  verbum  dixerit f  hie  est.' 
securus  licet  Aenean  Rutulumque  ferocem 
committas,  nulli  gravis  est  percussus  Achilles 
aut  multum  quaesitus  Hylas  urnamque  secutus  : 
ense  velut  stricto  quotiens  Lucilius  ardens  165 

infremuit,  rubet  auditor  cui  frigida  mens  est 
criminibus,  tacita  sudant  praecordia  culpa, 
inde  ira  l  et  lacrimae.     tecum  prius  ergo  voluta 
haec  animo  ante  tubas  :  galeatum  sero  duelli 
paenitet."     experiar  quid  concedatur  in  illos,         170 
quorum  Flaminia  tegitur  cinis  atque  Latina. 

SATVRA  II 

Vltra  Sauromatas  fugere  hinc  libet  et  glacialem 
Oceanum,  quotiens  aliquid  de  moribus  audent 
qui  Curios  simulant  et  Bacchanalia  vivunt. 
indocti  primum,  quamquam  plena  omnia  gypso 
Chrysippi  invenias  ;  nam  perfectissimus  horum,         5 
si  quis  Aristotelen  similem  vel  Pittacon  emit 

1  So  Housm.  following  AGLO  :  Biich.  reads  irae  from  P. 


1  Turnus,  king  of  the  Rutulians. 

2  A  favourite  of  Hercules,  who  was  drawn  into  a  well  by 
the  Naids. 

16 


JUVENAL,   SATIRE  If 

158  What  ?  Is  a  man  Avho  has  administered  aconite 
to  half  a  dozen  uncles  to  ride  by  and  look  down  upon 
me  from  his  swaying  cushions  ?  "  Yes ;  and  when 
he  comes  near  you,  put  your  finger  to  your  lip :  he 
who  but  says  the  word,  l  That's  the  man ! '  will 
be  counted  an  informer.  You  may  set  Aeneas  and 
the  brave  Rutulian  x  a-fighting  with  an  easy  mind ; 
it  will  hurt  no  one's  feelings  to  hear  how  Achilles 
was  slain,  or  how  Hylas  2  was  searched  for  when  he 
tumbled  after  his  pitcher.  But  when  Lucilius  roars 
and  rages  as  if  with  sword  in  hand,  the  hearer,  whose 
soul  was  cold  with  crime,  grows  red ;  he  sweats  with 
the  secret  consciousness  of  sin.  Hence  wrath  and 
tears.  So  turn  these  things  over  in  your  mind  before 
the  trumpet  sounds ;  the  helmet  once  donned,  it  is 
too  late  to  repent  you  of  the  battle."  Then  I  will 
try  what  I  may  say  of  those  worthies  whose  ashes  lie 
under  the  Flaminian  and  Latin3  roads. 


SATIRE  II 

Moralists  without  Morals 

I  would  fain  flee  to  Sarmatia  and  the  frozen 
Sea  when  people  who  ape  the  Curii 4  and  live  like 
Bacchanals  dare  talk  about  morals.  In  the  first 
place,  they  are  unlearned  persons,  though  you  may 
find  their  houses  crammed  with  plaster  casts  of 
Chrysippus 5 ;  for  their  greatest  hero  is  the  man 
who  has  bought  a  likeness  of  Aristotle  or  Pittacus,6 

3  The  sides  of  the  great  roads  leading  out  from  Rome  were 
lined  with  monuments  to  the  dead. 
*  A  famous  family  of  early  Rome. 
6  The  eminent  Stoic  philosopher,  pupil  of  Cleanthes. 
6  One  of  the  seven  wise  men  of  Greece,  b.  circ.  B.C.  652. 

n 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   II 

et  iubet  archetypos  pluteum  servare  Cleanthas. 

frontis  nulla  fides  ;  quis  enirn  non  vicus  abundat 

tristibus  obscaenis  ?     castigas  turpia,  cum  sis 

inter  Socraticos  notissima  fossa  cinaedos?  10 

hispida  membra  quidem  et  durae  per  bracchia  saetae 

promittunt  atrocem  animum,  sed  podice  levi 

caeduntur  tumidae  medico  ridente  mariscae. 

rarus  sermo  illis  et  magna  libido  tacendi 

atque  supercilio  brevior  coma,     verius  ergo  15 

et  magis  ingenue  Peribomius ;  hunc  ego  fatis 

inputo,  qui  vultu  morbum  incessuque  fatetur. 

horum  simplicitas  miserabilis,  his  furor  ipse 

dat  veniam  ;  sed  peiores,  qui  talia  verbis 

Herculis  invadunt  et  de  virtute  locuti  20 

clunem  agitant.    "ego  te  ceventerm  Sexte,  verebor  ?  " 

infamis  Varillus  ait  "  quo  deterior  te  ?  " 

loripedem  rectus  derideat,  Aethiopem  albus  ; 

quis  tulerit  Gracchos  de  seditione  querentes  ? 

quis  caelum  terris  non  misceat  et  mare  caelo,  25 

si  fur  displiceat  Verri,  homicida  Miloni, 

Clodius  accuset  moechoSj  Catilina  Cethegum, 

in  tabulam  Syllae  si  dicant  discipuli  tres  ? 

qualis  erat  nuper  tragico  pollutus  adulter 

concubitu,  qui  tunc  leges  revocabat  amaras  30 

1  Pupil  and  successor  of  Zeno,  founder  of  the  Stoic  School, 
from  about  B.C.  300  to  220.  Famous  for  his  poverty  and 
iron  will. 

2  Some  villainous  character  of  the  clay. 

3  Alluding  to  the  faction  fights  between  Clodius  and  Milo, 
B.C.  52.  Clodius  violated  the  rites  of  the  Bona  Dea  ;  see  vi. 
314-341. 

4  A  partner  in  the  Catilinarian  conspiracy,  B.C.  63. 

18 


JUVENAL,   SATIRE   II 

or  bids  his  shelves  preserve  an  original  portrait  of 
Cleanthes.1  Men's  faces  are  not  to  be  trusted ; 
does  not  every  street  abound  in  gloomy-visaged 
debauchees  ?  And  do  you  rebuke  foul  practices, 
when  you  are  yourself  the  most  notorious  of  the 
Socratic  reprobates?  A  hairy  body,  and  arms  stiff 
with  bristles,  give  promise  of  a  manly  soul :  but 
the  doctor  grins  when  he  cuts  into  the  growths 
on  your  sleek  buttocks.  Men  of  your  kidney  talk 
little;  they  glory  in  taciturnity,  and  cut  their  hair 
shorter  than  their  eyebrows.  Peribomius 2  himselt 
is  more  open  and  more  honest ;  his  face,  his  walk, 
betray  his  distemper,  and  I  charge  Destiny  with 
his  failings.  Such  men  excite  your  pity  by  their 
frankness ;  the  very  fury  of  their  passions  wins  them 
pardon.  Far  worse  are  those  who  denounce  evil 
ways  in  the  language  of  a  Hercules ;  and  after  dis- 
coursing upon  virtue,  prepare  to  practise  vice. 
"Am  I  to  respect  you,  Sextus,"  quoth  the  ill-famed 
Varillus,  "  when  you  do  as  I  do  ?  How  am  I  worse 
than  yourself?  "  Let  the  straight-legged  man  laugh 
at  the  club-footed,  the  white  man  at  the  blackamoor: 
but  who  could  endure  the  Gracchi  railing  at  sedi- 
tion ?  Who  will  not  confound  heaven  with  earth, 
and  sea  with  sky,  if  Verres  denounce  thieves,  or 
Milo3  cut-throats?  If  Clodius  condemn  adulterers, 
or  Catiline  upbraid  Cethegus4;  or  if  Sulla's  three 
disciples 5  inveigh  against  proscriptions  ?  Such  a 
man  was  that  adulterer6  who,  after  lately  defiling 
himself  by  a  union  of  the  tragic  style,  revived  the 
stern  laws  that  were  to  be  a  terror  to  all  men — ay, 

6  i.e.  the  second  triumvirate  (Octavius,  Antony,  and 
Lepidus)  who  followed  the  example  of  Sulla's  proscriptions. 

6  The  emperor  Domitian.  Domitian  was  a  lover  of  his 
niece  Julia,  daughter  of  his  brother  Titus. 

c  2 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   II 

omnibus  atque  ipsis  Veneri  Martique  timendas, 
cum  tot  abortivis  fecundam  Iulia  vulvam 
solveret  et  patruo  similes  effunderet  offas. 
nonne  igitur  iure  ac  merito  vitia  ultima  fictos 
contemnunt  Scauros  et  castigata  remordent?  35 

Non  tulit  ex  illis  torvum  Laronia  quendam 
clamantem  totiens  "  ubi  nunc,  lex  Iulia  ? l    dormis  ?  " 
atque  ita  subridens  :  "  felicia  tempora,  quae  te 
moribus  opponunt.     habeat  iam  Roma  pudorem, 
tertius  e  caelo  cecidit  Cato.     sed  tamen  unde  40 

haec  emis,  hirsuto  spirant  opobalsama  collo 
quae  tibi  ?  ne  pudeat  dominum  monstrare  tabernae. 
quod  si  vexantur  leges  ac  iura/  citari 
ante  omnes  debet  Scantinia  :  respice  primum 
et  scrutare  viros  ;  faciunt  nam  3  plura,  sed  illos       45 
defendit  numerus  iunctaeque  umbone  phalanges, 
magna  inter  molles  concordia.     non  erit  ullum 
exemplum  in  nostro  tam  detestabile  sexu. 
Media  non  lambit  Cluviam  nee  Flora  Catullam  : 
Hispo  subit  iuvenes  et  morbo  pallet  utroque.  50 

"  Numquid  nos  agimus  causas,  civilia  iura 
novimuSj  aut  ullo  strepitu  fora  vestra  movemus  ? 
luctantur  paucae,  comedunt  colyphia  paucae  : 
vos  lanam  trahitis  calathisque  peracta  refertis 
veil  era,  vos  tenui  praegnantem  stamine  fusum         55 

1  Housm.  punctuates  ubi  nunc,  lex  Julia,  dormis  ? 

2  ac  iura  \\i  (see  1.  72) :  acturae  P. 

3  nam  Housm.  from  0:  hi  Vind.ij'  and  Biich.:  qui  Biich. 
(1910). 

20 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   II 

even  to  Mars  and  Venus — at  the  moment  when  Julia 
was  relieving  her  fertile  womb  and  giving  birth  to 
abortions  that  displayed  the  similitude  of  her  uncle. 
Is  it  not  then  right  and  proper  that  the  very  worst 
of  sinners  should  despise  your  pretended  Scauri,1  and 
bite  back  when  bitten  ? 

3(3  Laronia  could  not  contain  herself  when  one  of 
these  sour-faced  worthies  cried  out,  "  What  of  your 
Julian  Law?2  Has  it  gone  to  sleep?"  To  which 
she  answered  smilingly, "  O  happy  times  to  have  you 
for  a  censor  of  our  morals  !  Once  more  may  Rome 
regain  her  modesty ;  a  third  Cato  has  come  down  to 
us  from  the  skies  !  But  tell  me,  where  did  you  buy 
that  balsam  juice  that  exhales  from  your  hairy  neck  ? 
Don't  be  ashamed  to  point  out  to  me  the  shopman ! 
If  laws  and  statutes  are  to  be  raked  up,  you  should 
cite  first  of  all  the  Scantinian  3  :  inquire  first  into  the 
things  that  are  done  by  men ;  men  do  more  wicked 
things  than  we  do,  but  they  are  protected  by  their 
numbers,  and  the  tight-locked  shields  of  their 
phalanx.  Male  effeminates  agree  wondrously  well 
among  themselves ;  never  in  our  sex  will  you  find 
such  loathsome  examples  of  evil. 

51  "  Do  we  women  ever  plead  in  the  courts  ? 
Are  we  learned  in  the  Law  ?  Do  your  court-houses 
ever  ring  with  our  bawling?  Some  few  of  us 
are  wrestlers ;  some  of  us  eat  meat-rations :  you 
men  spin  wool  and  bring  back  your  tale  of  work 
in  baskets  when  it  is  done ;  you  twirl  round  the 
spindle    big    with    fine    thread    more    deftly   than 

1  One  of  the  most  famous  families  of  the  later  Republic. 

2  In  reference  to  the  law  passed  by  Augustus  for  encourag- 
ing marriage  {Lex  Iulia  de  maritandis  ordinibus). 

8  A  law  against  unnatural  crime. 

21 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   II 

Penelope  melius,  levius  torquetis  Arachne, 
horrida  quale  facit  residens  in  codice  paelex. 
notum  est  cur  solo  tabulas  inpleverit  Hister 
liberto,  dederit  vivus  cur  multa  puellae  ; 
dives  erit  magno  quae  dormit  tertia  lecto  ;  60 

tu  nube  atque  tace  :  donant  arcana  cylindros. 
de  nobis  post  haec  tristis  sententia  fertur  ? 
dat  veniam  corvis,  vexat  censura  columbas." 

Fugerunt  trepidi  vera  ac  manifesta  canentem 
Stoicidae  ;  quid  enim  falsi  Laronia  ?    sed  quid         65 
non  facient  alii,  cum  tu  multicia  sumas, 
Cretice,  et  hanc  vestem  populo  mirante  perores 
in  Proculas  et  Pollittas  ?     est  moecha  Fabulla, 
damnetur,  si  vis,  etiam  Carfinia :  talem 
non  sumet  damnata  togam.     "  sed  Iulius  ardet,       70 
aestuo."     nudus  agas  :  minus  est  insania  turpis. 
en  habitum  quo  te  leges  ac  iura  ferentem 
vulneribus  crudis  populus  modo  victor,  et  illud 
montanum  positis  audiret  vulgus  aratris. 
quid  non  proclames,  in  corpore  iudicis  ista  75 

si  videas  ?  quaero  an  deceant  multicia  testem. 
acer  et  indomitus  libertatisque  magister, 
Cretice,  perluces.     dedit  hanc  contagio  labem 
et  dabit  in  plures,  sicut  grex  totus  in  agris 

1  A  Lydian  maiden  who  challenged  Athene  in  spinning 
and  was  turned  into  a  spider. 

2  Cylindrus,  a  cylinder,  is  here  used  for  a  precious  stone 
cut  in  that  shape. 

22 


JUVENAL,   SATIRE   II 

Penelope,  more  delicately  than  Arachne,1  doing 
work  such  as  an  unkempt  drab  squatting  on  a  log 
would  do.  Everybody  knows  why  Hister  left  all 
his  property  to  his  freedman,  why  in  his  life-time 
he  gave  so  many  presents  to  his  young  wife  ;  the 
woman  who  sleeps  third  in  a  big  bed  will  want  for 
nothing.  So  when  you  take  a  husband,  keep  your 
mouth  shut;  precious  stones2  will  be  the  reward  ot 
a  well-kept  secret.  After  this,  what  condemnation 
can  be  pronounced  on  women  ?  Our  censor  absolves 
the  crow  and  passes  judgment  on  the  pigeon  !  " 

84  While  Laronia  was  uttering  these  plain  truths, 
the  would-be  Stoics  made  off  in  confusion  :  for  what 
word  of  untruth  had  she  spoken  ?  Yet  what  will 
not  other  men  do  when  you,  Creticus,  dress  yourself 
in  garments  of  gauze,  and  while  everyone  is  mar- 
velling at  your  attire,  launch  out  against  the  Proculae 
and  the  Pollittae  ?  Fabulla  is  an  adultei*ess  ;  condemn 
Carfinia  of  the  same  crime  if  you  please ;  but  how- 
ever guilty,  they  would  never  wear  such  a  gown  as 
yours.  "O  but,"  you  say,  "these  July  days  are  so 
sweltering  !  "  Then  why  not  plead  without  clothes? 
Such  madness  would  be  less  disgraceful.  A  pretty 
garb  yours  in  which  to  propose  or  expound  laws  to 
our  countrymen  flushed  with  victory,  and  with  their 
wounds  yet  unhealed  ;  and  to  those  mountain  rustics 
who  had  laid  down  their  ploughs  to  listen  to  you  ? 
What  would  you  not  exclaim  if  you  saw  a  judge 
dressed  like  that?  Would  a  robe  of  gauze  sit  be- 
comingly on  a  witness  ?  You,  Creticus,  you,  the  keen, 
unbending  champion  of  human  liberty,  to  be  clothed 
in  a  transparency  !  This  plague  has  come  upon  us 
by  infection,  and  it  will  spread  still  further,  just  as 
in  the  fields  the  scab  of  one  sheep,  or  the  mange  of 

23 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    II 

unius  scabie  cadit  et  porrigine x  porci  80 

uvaque  conspecta  livorem  ducit  ab  uva. 

Foedius  hoc  aliquid  quandoque  audebis  amictu  ; 
nemo  repente  fuit  turpissimus.     accipient  te 
paulatim  qui  longa  domi  redimicula  sumunt 
frontibus  et  toto  posuere  monilia  collo,  85 

atque  bonam  tenerae  placant  abdomine  porcae 
et  magno  cratere  deam ;  sed  more  sinistro 
exagitata  procul  non  intrat  femina  limen  : 
solis  ara  deae  maribus  patet.     "ite  profanae/' 
clamatur,  "  nullo  gemit  hie  tibicina  cornu."  90 

talia  secreta  coluerunt  orgia  taeda 
Cecropiam  soliti  Baptae  lassare  Cotyton. 
ille  supercilium  madida  fuligine  tinctum 
obliqua  producit  acu  pingitque  trementis 
attolens  oculos  ;  vitreo  bibit  ille  priapo,  95 

reticulumque  comis  auratum  ingentibus  implet 
caerulea  indutus  scutulata  aut  galbina  rasa, 
et  per  Iunonem  domini  iurante  ministro  ; 
ille  tenet  speculum,  pathici  gestamen  Othonis, 
Actoris  Aurunci  spolium,  quo  se  ille  videbat  100 

armatum,  cum  iam  tolli  vexilla  iuberet. 
res  memoranda  novis  annalibus  atque  recenti 
historia,  speculum  civilis  sarcina  belli ; 
nimirum  summi  ducis  est  occidere  Galbam 

1  prurigine  P. 

1  None  but  women  could  attend  the  rites  of  the  Bona  Dea. 
Hence  the  scandal  created  in  B.C.  62  by  Clodius  when  he 
made  his  way  into  the  house  of  Caesar,  where  the  rites  were 
being  celebrated,  disguised  as  a  woman.  Hence  Caesar  put 
away  his  wife  Pompeia,  as  "  Caesar's  wife  must  be  above 
suspicion."  In  the  present  passage  Juvenal  refers  to  some 
real  or  imaginary  inversion  of  the  old  rule,  by  which  none 
but  males,  clothed  in  female  dresses,  were  to  be  admitted  to 
the  worship  of  the  Goddess. 

24 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   II 

one  pig,  destroys  an  entire  herd ;  just  as  one  bunch 
of  grapes  takes  on  its  sickly  colour  from  the  aspect 
of  its  neighbour. 

82  Some  day  you  will  venture  on  something  more 

shameful   than   this    dress;    no    one     reaches     the 

depths  of  turpitude  all  at  once.     In  due  time  you 

will  be  welcomed  by  those  who  in  their  homes  put 

fillets  round  their    brows,   swathe  themselves    with 

necklaces,  and   propitiate  the   Bona   Dea  with    the 

stomach  of  a  porker  and  a  huge  bowl  of  wine,  though 

by  an  evil  usage  the  Goddess  warns  off  all  women 

from  the  door ;  none  but  males  may  approach  her 

altar.1     "Away  with  you!  profane  women"  is  the 

cry;  "no  booming   horn,  no  she-minstrels    here!" 

Such  were  the  secret  torchlight  orgies  with  which 

the  Baptae  2  wearied  the  Cecropian  3  Cotytto.     One 

prolongs  his  eyebrows  with  some  damp  soot  on  the 

edge  of  a  needle,  and  lifts  up  his  blinking  eyes  to  be 

painted  ;  another  drinks  out  of  an  obscenely-shaped 

glass,  and  ties  up  his  long  locks  in  a  gilded  net ;  he  is 

clothed  in  blue  checks,  or  smooth-faced  green ;  the 

attendant  swears  by  Juno  like  his  master.     Another 

holds  in  his  hand  a  mirror  like  that  carried  by  the 

effeminate  Otho  :  a  trophy  of  the  Auruncan  Actor,4  in 

which  he  gazed  at  his  own  image  in  full  armour  when 

he  was  just  ready  to  give  the  order  to  advance— a 

thing  notable  and  novel  in  the  annals  of  our  time,  a 

mirror  among  the  kit  of  Civil  War!   It  needed,  in  truth, 

a  mighty  general  to  slay  Galba,  and  keep  his  own  skin 

2  Worshippers  of  the  Thracian  deity  Cotytto. 

3  i.e.  Athenian,  Cecrops  being  the  first  king  of  Athens. 

4  The  words  Actoris  Aurunci  spolivm  area  quotation  from 
Virg.  Aen.  xii  94.  The  suggestion  seems  to  be  that  Otho 
was  as  proud  of  his  mirror  as  if  it  had  been  a  trophy  of  war, 
like  the  spear  which  King  Turnus  captured  from  Actor. 

25 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   II 

et  curare  cutem  ;  summi  constantia  civis  105 

Bebriacis  campis  spolium l  adfectare  Palati, 
et  pressum  in  facie  digitis  extendere  panenr, 
quod  nee  in  Assyrio  pharetrata  Samiramis  orbe, 
maesta  nee  Actiaca  fecit  Cleopatra  carina, 
hie  nullus  verbis  pudor  aut  reverentia  mensae,       110 
hie  turpis  2  Cybeles  et  fracta  voce  loquendi 
libertas  et  crine  senex  fanaticus  albo 
sacrorum  antistes,  rarum  ac  memorabile  magni 
gutturis  exemplum  conducendusque  magister. 
quid  tamen  expectant,  Phrygio  quos  tempus  erat 

iam  115 

more  supervacuam  cultris  abrumpere  carnem  ? 

Quadringenta  dedit  Gracchus  sestertia  dotem 
cornicini,  sive  hie  recto  cantaverat  aere  ; 
signatae  tabulae,  dictum  "  feliciter,"  ingens 
cena  sedet,  gremio  iacuit  nova  nupta  mariti.  120 

o  proceres,  censore  opus  est  an  haruspice  nobis  ? 
scilicet  horreres  maioraque  monstra  putares, 
si  mulier  vitulum  vel  si  bos  ederet  agnum  ? 
segmenta  et  longos  habitus  et  flammea  sumit 
arcano  qui  sacra  ferens  nutantia  loro  125 

sudavit  clupeis  ancilibus. 

O  pater  urbis, 
unde  nefas  tantum  Latiis  pastoribus  ?    unde 
haec  tetigit,  Gradive,  tuos  urtica  nepotes  ? 
traditur  ecce  viro  clarus  genere  atque  opibus  vir, 

1  spolium  4-0  :  solium  Herwerd.Housm. 

2  turpis  PVind.^  :  turpes  TParis. 


1  The  battle  in  which  Otbo  was  defeated  by  Vitellius. 

2  Mythical   founder   of    the   Assyrian    empire    with    her 
husband  Ninua. 

26 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   II 

sleek;  it  needed  a  citizen  of  highest  courage  to  ape 
the  splendours  of  the  Palace  on  the  field  of  Bebria- 
cum/  and  plaster  his  face  with  dough  !  Never  did  the 
quiver-bearing  Samiramis2  the  like  in  her  Assyrian 
realm,  nor  the  despairing  Cleopatra  on  board  her 
ship  at  Actium.  No  decency  of  language  is  there 
here :  no  regard  for  the  manners  of  the  table.  You 
will  hear  all  the  foul  talk  and  squeaking  tones  of 
Cybele ;  a  grey-haired  frenzied  old  man  presides 
over  the  rites;  he  is  a  rare  and  notable  master  of 
the  art  of  gluttony,  and  should  be  hired  to  teach  it. 
But  why  wait  any  longer  when  it  were  time  in 
Phrygian  fashion  to  lop  off  the  superfluous  flesh  ? 

117  Gracchus  has  presented  to  a  cornet  player — or 
perhaps  it  was  a  player  on  the  straight  horn — a  dowry 
of  four  hundred  thousand  sesterces.  The  contract 
has  been  signed;  the  benedictions  have  been  pro- 
nounced ;  the  banqueters  are  seated,  the  new  made 
bride  is  reclining  on  the  bosom  of  her  husband.  O 
ye  nobles  of  Rome  !  is  it  a  soothsayer  that  we  need, 
or  a  Censor  ?  Would  you  be  more  aghast,  would  you 
deem  it  a  greater  portent,  if  a  woman  gave  birth  to  a 
calf,  or  an  ox  to  a  lamb?  The  man  who  is  now 
arraying  himself  in  the  flounces  and  train  and  veil  of 
a  bride  once  carried  the  quivering  shields  3  of  Mars 
by  the  sacred  thongs  and  sweated  under  the  sacred 
burden  ! 

126  O  Father  of  our  city,  whence  came  such  wicked- 
ness among  thy  Latin  shepherds  ?  How  did  such  a 
lust  possess  thy  grandchildren,  O  Gradivus  ?  Behold! 
Here  you  have  a  man  of  high  birth  and  wealth  being 

3  Gracchus  was  one  of  the  Salii,  priests  of  Mars  who  had 
to  carry  the  sacred  shields  of  Mars  (ancilia)  in  procession 
through  the  city. 

27 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    II 

nee  galeam  quassas,  nee  terram  cuspide  pulsas,      130 
nee  quereris  patri?  vade  ergo  et  cede  severi 
iugeribus  cam  pi,  quern  neglegis. 

"  Officium  eras 
prime-  sole  mihi  peragendum  in  valle  Quirini." 
"quae  causa  officii  ? "  "quid  quaeris  ?  nubit  amicus 
nee  multos  adhibet."    liceat  modo  vivere,  fient,     135 
fient  ista  palam,  cupient  et  in  acta  referri. 
interea  tormentum  ingens  nubentibus  haeret, 
quod  nequeant  parere  et  pai'tu  retinere  maritos. 
sed  melius,  quod  nil  animis  in  corpora  iuris 
natura  indulget :  steriles  moriuntur,  et  illis  140 

turgida  non  prodest  condita  pyxide  Lyde, 
nee  prodest  agili  palmas  praebere  luperco. 

Vicit  et  hoc  monstrum  tunicati  fuscina  Gracchi, 
lustravitque  fuga  mediam  gladiator  harenam 
et  Capitolinis  generosior  et  Marcellis  145 

et  Catuli  Paulique  minoribus  et  Fabiis  et 
omnibus  ad  podium  spectantibus,  his  licet  ipsum 
admoveas  cuius  tunc  munere  retia  misit. 

Esse  aliquos  manes  et  subterranea  regna 

et  contum  a  et  Stygk)  ranas  in  gurgite  nigras,        150 

atque  una  transire  vadum  tot  milia  cumba 

1  et  contum  2Vind.i|/:  et  pontum  PSTU.  Housm.  reads 
Cocytum  after  Luitprandus,  Antapodosis  5  B. 

1  i.e.  the  Campus  Martius. 

2  The  Luperci  were  a  mysterious  priesthood  who  on  certain 
days  ran  round  the  pomoerium  clad  in  goat-skins  and  struck 
at  any  woman  they  met  with  goat-skin  thongs  in  order  to 
produce  fertility. 

3  The  podium  was  a  balustrade,  or  balcony,  set  all  round 
the  amphitheatre,  from  which  the  most  distinguished  of  the 
spectators  witnessed  the  performance. 

28 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   II 

handed  over  in  marriage  to  a  man,  and  yet  neithei 
shakest  thy  helmet,  nor  smitest  the  earth  with  thy 
spear,  nor  yet  protestest  to  thy  Father  ?  Away  with 
thee  then ;  begone  from  that  broad  Martial  Plain * 
which  thou  hast  forgotten  ! 

132  "1  have  a  ceremony  to  attend,"  quoth  one,  "at 
dawn  to-morrow,  in  the  Quirinal  valley."  "What  is 
the  occasion  ?  "  "  No  need  to  ask  :  a  friend  is  taking 
to  himself  a  husband  ;  quite  a  small  affair."  Yes,  and 
if  we  only  live  long  enough,  we  shall  see  these  things 
done  openly  :  people  will  wish  to  see  them  reported 
among  the  news  of  the  day.  Meanwhile  these  would- 
be  brides  have  one  great  trouble  :  they  can  bear  no 
children  wherewith  to  keep  the  affection  of  their 
husbands  ;  well  has  nature  done  in  granting  to  their 
desires  no  power  over  their  bodies.  They  die  in- 
fertile;  naught  avails  them  the  medicine-chest  of 
the  bloated  Lyde,  or  to  hold  out  their  hands  to 
the  blows  of  the  swift-footed  Luperci !  2 

143  Greater  still  the  portent  when  Gracchus,  clad 
in  a  tunic,  played  the  gladiator,  and  fled,  trident  in 
hand,  across  the  arena — Gracchus,  a  man  of  nobler 
birth  than  the  Capitolini,  or  the  Marcelli,  or  the 
descendents  of  Catulus  or  Paulus,  or  the  Fabii : 
nobler  than  all  the  spectators  in  the  podium3;  not 
excepting  him  who  gave  the  show  at  which  that  net 4 
was  flung. 

149  That  there  are  such  things  as  Manes,  and  king- 
doms below  ground,  and  punt-poles,  and  Stygian 
pools  black  with  frogs,  and  all  those  thousands  cross- 
ing over  in  a  single  bark — these  things  not  even 

4  For  the  disgrace  incurred  by  Gracchus  in  fighting  as 
a  retiarius  against  a  secutor,  see  the  fuller  passage  viii.  199- 
210  and  note. 

29 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   III 

nee  pueri  credunt,  nisi  qui  nondum  aere  lavantur. 
sed  tu  vera  puta :  Curius  quid  sentit  et  ambo 
Scipiadae,  quid  Fabricius  manesqUe  Camilli, 
quid  Cremerae  legio  et  Cannis  consumpta  iuven- 

tus,  155 

tot  bellorum  animae,  quotiens  hinc  talis  ad  illos 
umbra  venit  ?     cuperent  lustrari,  si  qua  darentur 
sulpura  cum  taedis  et  si  foret  umida  laurus. 
illic  1  heu  miseri  traducimur.     arma  quidem  ultra 
litora  Iuvernae  promovimus  et  modo  captas  160 

Orcadas  ac  minima  contentos  nocte  Britannos ; 
sed  quae  nunc  populi  fiunt  victoris  in  urbe, 
non  faciunt  illi  quos  vicimus.     et  tamen  unus 
Armenius  Zalaces  cunctis  narratur  ephebis 
mollior  ardenti  sese  indulsisse  tribune  165 

aspice  quid  faciant  commercia  :  venerat  obses, 
hie  fiunt  homines,     nam  si  mora  longior  urbem 
indulsit  pueris,  non  umquam  2  derit  amator. 
mittentur  bracae  cultelli  frena  flagellum ; 
sic  praetextatos  referunt  Artaxata  mores.  170 


SATVRA  III 

Quamvis  digressu  veteris  confusus  amici 
laudo  tamen,  vacuis  quod  sedem  figere  Cumis 
destinet  atque  unum  civem  donare  Sibyllae. 

1  illic  Vind.GL  :  illuc  ATU  and  appar.  P. 

2  7io?i  umquam  GLOTHousm. :  non  numqwam  PUBiich. 

30 


JUVENAL,   SATIRE   III 

boys    believe,    except    such    as    have   not   yet   had 
their   penny   bath.       But  just  imagine  them  to  be 
true— what  would  Curius  and  the  two  Scipios  think  ? 
or  Fabricius  and  the  spirit  of  Camillus  ?    What  would 
the  legion  that  fought  at  the  Cremera  *  think,  or  the 
young  manhood  that  fell  at  Cannae ;  what  would  all 
those  gallant  hearts  feel  when  a  shade  of  this  sort 
came  down  to  them  from  here  ?     They  would  wish 
to  be  purified ;  if  only  sulphur  and  torches  and  clamp 
laurel-branches  were  to  be  had.    Such  is  the  degrada- 
tion to  which  we  have  come  !     Our  arms  indeed  we 
have  pushed  beyond  Juverna's2  shores,  to  the  new- 
conquered  Orcades  and  the  short-nighted  Britons ; 
but  the  things  which  we  do  in  our  victorious  city 
will   never    be  done   by   the   men   whom   we    have 
conquered.     And  yet  they  say  that  one  Zalaces,  an 
Armenian  more  effeminate  than  any  of  our  youth,  has 
yielded  to  the  ardour  of  a  Tribune  !     Just  see  what 
evil   communications   do!     He  came  as  a  hostage: 
but  here  boys  are  turned  into  men.     Give  them  a 
long  sojourn  in  our  city,  and  lovers  will  never  fail 
them.    They  will  throw  away  their  trousers  and  their 
knives,  their  bridles  and  their  whips,  and  carry  back 
to  Artaxata  the  manners  of  our  Roman  youth. 


SATIRE   III 

Quid  Romae  Faciam? 

Though  put  out  by  the  departure  of  my  old  friend, 
I  commend  his  purpose  to  fix  his  home  at  Cumae' 
and  to  present  one  citizen  to  the  Sibyl.    That  is  the 

1  The  battle  in  which  300  Fabii  were  killed. 
a  Ireland. 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   lit 

ianua  Baiarum  est  et  gratum  litus  amoeni 

secessus.     ego  vel  Prochytam  praepono  Suburae  ;     5 

nam  quid  tarn  miserum,  tam  solum  vidimus,  ut  non 

deterius  credas  horrere  incendia,  lapsus 

tectorum  adsiduos  ac  mille  pericula  saevae 

urbis  et  Augusto  recitantes  mense  poetas  ? 

Sed  dum  tota  domus  raeda  componitur  una,         10 
substitit  ad  veteres  arcus  madidamque  Capenam. 
hie,  ubi  nocturnae  Numa  constituebat  amicae, 
nunc  sacri  fontis  nemus  et  delubra  locantur 
Iudaeis,  quorum  cophinus  faenumque  supellex 
(omnis  enim  populo  mercedem  pendere  iussa  est     15 
arbor  et  eiectis  mendicat  silva  Camenis), 
in  vallem  Egeriae  descendimus  et  speluncas 
dissimiles  veris.     quanto  praesentius 1  esset 
numen  aquis,  viridi  si  margine  clauderet  undas 
herba,  nee  ingenuum  violarent  marmora  tofum.        20 

Hie  tunc  Vmbricius  "  quando  artibus,"  inquit, 
"  honestis 
iiullus  in  urbe  locus,  nulla  emolumenta  laborum, 
res  hodie  minor  est  here  quam  fuit  atque  eadem  eras 
deteret  exiguis  aliquid,  proponimus  illuc 
ire,  fatigatas  ubi  Daedalus  exuit  alas,  25 

dum  nova  canities,  dum  prima  et  recta  senectus, 
dum  superest  Lachesi  quod  torqueat  et  pedibus  me 
porto  meis  nullo  dextram  subeunte  bacillo. 
cedamus  patria.     vivant  Artorius  istic 

1  praestantius  p<|/  :  presentius  Vind. ^^ 

1  A  small  island  off  Misenum. 
8  The  noisiest  street  in  Rome. 

3  The  Porta  Capena  was  on  the  Appian  Way,  the  great 
S.  road  from  Rome.     Over  the  gate  passed  an   aqueduct, 

32 


JUVENAL,   SATIRE   III 

gate  of  Baiae,  a  sweet  retreat  upon  a  pleasant  shore  ;  I 
myself  would  prefer  even  Prochyta1  to  the  Saburra  !2 
EoiUvhere  has  one  ever  seen  a  place  so  dismal  and 
soioaslvthat  one  would  not  deem  it  worse  to  live 
ijLJZerrjetual  dread  oTTires  and  falling  houses,  and 
the  tliouganfr  perils  of  this  terrible  city,  and  p^t, 
spouting  in  thp  month  nf  A^tf  i  -— — - - 

10  But  while  all  his  goods  and  chattels  wereteing 
packed   upon  a  single  wagon,  my  friend  halted  at 
the  dripping  archway  of  the  old  Porta  Capena.3    Here 
Numa  held  his  nightly  assignations   with    his   mis- 
tress ;  but  now  the  holy  fount  and  grove  and^shrine 
are  let  out  to  Jews,  who  possess  a  basket  anclaSuss 
of  hay  for  all  their  furnishings.     For  as  every  tree 
nowadays  has  to  pay  toll  to  the  people,  the  Muses 
have  been  ejected,  and  the  wood  has  to  go  a-beggino- 
We  go  down  to  the  Valley  of  Egeria,  and  into  the 
caves  so  unlike  to  nature  :  how  much  more  near  to  us 
would  be  the  spirit  of  the  fountain  if  its  waters  were 
fringed  by  a  green  border  of  grass,  and  there  were 
no  marble  to  outrage  the  native  tufa ! 

21  Here  spoke  Umbricius  :— "  Since  there  is  no 
room,"  quoth  he,  "for  honest  callings  in  this  city,  no 
reward  for  labour ;  since  my  means  are  less  to-day 
than  they  were  yesterday,  and  to-morrow  will  rub 
off  something  from  the  little  that  is  left,  I  purpose 
to  go  to  the  place  where  Daedalus  put  off  his  weary 
wings  while  my  white  hairs  are  recent,  while  my  old 
age  is  erect  and  fresh,  while  Lachesis  has  something 
left  to  spin,  and  I  can  support  myself  on  my  own 
feet  without  slipping  a  staff  beneath  my  hand.  Fare- 
well   my    country!      Let   Artorius   live   there,   and 

carrying  the  water  of  the  Aqua  Marcia.     Hence  "  the  drip- 
ping archway." 

33 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   III 

et  Catulus,  maneant  qui  nigrum  in   Candida  ver- 

tunt,  30 

quis  facile  est  aedem  conducere  flumina  portus, 
siccandam  eluviem,  portandum  ad  busta  cadaver, 
et  praebere  caput  domina  venale  sub  hasta. 
quondam  hi  cornicines  et  municipalis  harenae 
perpetui  comites  notaeque  per  oppida  buccae  35 

munera  nunc  edunt  et,  verso  pollice  vulgus 
quem  x  iubet,  occidunt  populariter  ;  inde  reversi 
conducunt  foricas,  et  cur  non  omnia,  cum  sint 2 
quales  ex  humili  magna  ad  fastigia  rerum 
extollit  quotiens  voluit  Fortuna  iocari  ?  40 

"  Quid  Romae  faciam  ?  mentiri  nescio  ;  librum, 
si  malus  est,  nequeo  laudare  et  poscere  ;  motus 
astrorum  ignoro  ;  funus  promittere  patris 
nee  volo  nee  possum  ;  ranarum  viscera  numquam 
inspexi ;  ferre  ad  nuptam  quae  mittit  adulter,         45 
quae  mandat,  norunt  alii ;  me  nemo  ministro 
fur  erit,  atque  ideo  nulli  comes  exeo  tamquam 
mancus  et  extinctae  corpus  non  utile  dextrae. 
quis  nunc  diligitur  nisi  conscius  et  cui  fervens 
aestuat  occultis  animus  semperque  tacendis  ? 
nil  tibi  se  debere  putat,  nil  conferet  umquam, 
participem  qui  te  secreti  fecit  honesti : 
carus  erit  Verri  qui  Verrem  tempore  quo  vult 


50 


quem  ty  :  cum  PAUBiich.  and  Housm. 

Biich.  punctuates  et  cur  non?  omnia  cum  sint. 


i  A  spear  was  set  up  at  auctions  as  the  sign  of  ownership 
34 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   III 

Catulus;    let    those    remain    who    turn    black    into 
white,  to  whom  it  comes  easy  to  take  contracts  for 
temples,  rivers  or  harbours,  for  cleansing  drains  or 
carrying  corpses  to  the  pyre,  or  to  put  up  slaves  for 
sale  under  the  authority  of  the  spear.'     These  men 
once  were  horn-blowers,   who   went   the   round   of 
every  provincial  show,  and  whose  puffed-out  cheeks 
were  known  in  every  village  ;  to-day  they  hold  shows 
ot  their  own,   and  win  applause   by  slaying  with  a 
turn  or  the  thumb  2  whomsoever  the  mob  bids  them 
slay;  from  that  they  go  back  to  contract  for  cess- 
pools, and  why  not  for  any  kind  of  thing,  seeing  that 
they  are  of  the  kind  that  Fortune  raises  from  the 
gutter  to  the  mighty  places  of  earth  whenever  she 
wishes  to  enjoy  a  laugh  ? 

41  ".What  ran  I  do  at_Rome  ?  I  cannot  lie  :  if  a 
bookjs  bad,  I  cannot  praise  it,  and  beg  for  a  conv : 
I  am  ignorant  of  the  movements  of  the  stars ;  I  can- 
not, and  will  not,  promise  to  a  man  his  father's 
death  ;  I  have  never  examined  the  entrails  of  a  froo-  • 
I  must  leave  it  to  others  to  carry  to  a  bride  the 
presents  and  messages  of  a  paramour.  No  man  will 
get  my  help  in  robbery,  and  therefore  no  governor 
will  take  me  on  his  staff  :1am  treated  as  a  m.nim^ 
-aiuLuseless  trunk  that  has  lost   the    pr^.   rf  ^ 

Uail£is Wpat.   m^    w;„.   fnV»„r   nfnviH  L|111L_J1L 

be  an  accomplice— one  whose  sm.l  g^fW  -^  burn: 
mfch  secretariat  must  never  be  disclosed  ?  No  one 
who  has  imparted  to  you  an  innocent  secret  thinks 
he  owes  you  anything,  or  will  ever  bestow  on  you  a 
favour ;  the  man  whom  Verres  loves  is  the  man  who 

*  Vertere  pollicem.,  to  turn  the  thumb  up,  was  the  signal 
for  dispatching  the  wounded  gladiator ;  premere  pollicem,  to 
turn  it  down,  was  a  sign  that  he  was  to  be  spared. 

35 

d  2 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   III 

accusare  potest,     tanti  tibi  non  sit  opaci 

omnis    harena    Tagi    quodque    in    mare    volvitur 

aurum,  ^5 

ut  somno  careas  ponendaque  praemia  sumas 
tristis,  et  a  magno  semper  timearis  amico. 

"  Quae  nunc  divitibus  gens  acceptissima  nostris 
et  quos  praecipue  fugiam,  properabo  fateri, 
nee  pudor  opstabit.     non  possum  ferre,  Quirites,    60 
Graecam  urbem  ;  quamvis  quota  portio  faecis  Achaei  ? 
iam  pridem  Syrus  in  Tiberim  defluxit  Orontes, 
et  linguam  et  mores  et  cum  tibicine  chordas 
obliquas  nee  non  gentilia  tympana  secum 
vexit  et  ad  circum  iussas  prostare  puellas.  65- 

ite,  quibus  grata  est  picta  lupa  barbara  mitra ! 
rusticus  ille  tuus  sumit  trechedipna,  Quirine, 
et  ceromatico  fert  nicetei'ia  collo. 
hie  alta  Sicyone,  ast  hie  Amydone  relicta, 
hie  Andro,  ille  Sam'o,  hie  Trallibus  aut  Alabandis   70 
Esquilias  dictumque  petunt  a  vimine  collem, 
viscera  magnarum  domuum  dominique  futuri. 
ingenium  velox,  audacia  perdita,  sermo 
promptus  et  Isaeo  torrentior :  ede  quid  ilium 
esse  putes  ?     quemvis  hominem  secum  attulit  ad 

nos :  _  '  ^ 

grammaticus  rhetor  geometres  pictor  aliptes 
augur  schoenobates  medicus  magus  :  omnia  novit 
Graeculus  esuriens ;  in  caelum  iusseris  ibit. 


i  Referring  to  the  sambuca,  a  kind  of  harp,  of  triangular 
shape,  producing  a  shrill  sound. 

2  Trechedipna,  "  a  run-to-dinner  coat";  ceromaticus,  from 
ceroma,  oil  used  by  wrestleis;  and  niceterium,  "a  prize  of 
victory  "—all  used  to  ridicule  the  use  of  the  Greek  forms. 

8  i.e.  the  Mons  Viminalis,  from  vimen,  "  an  osier." 

4  An  Assyrian  rhetorician  :  not  the  Greek  orator  Isaeus. 

36 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   III 

can  impeach  Verres  at  any  moment  that  he  chooses. 
Ah  !  Let  not  all  the  sands  of  the  shaded  Tagus,  and 
the  gold  which  it  rolls  into  the  sea,  be  so  precious  in 
your  eyes  that  you  should  lose  your  sleep,  and  accept 
gifts,  to  your  sorrow,  which  you  must  one  day  lay 
down,  and  be  for  ever  a  terror  to  your  mighty  friend  ! 

58  «  And  now  let  me  speak  at  once  of  the  race 
which  is  most  dear  to  our  rich  men,  and  which  I  avoid 
above  all  others  ;  no  shyness  shall  stand  in  my  way. 
T  r»aTlnnt-  phirU,  nm-rjtPfij  a  Rnmr  of  Greeks:  and  yet 
what  fraction  of  our  dregs  comes  from  Greece  ?    The 
Syrian  Orontes  has  long  since  poured  into  the  Tiber, 
bringing  with  it  its  lingo  and  its  manners,  its  flutes 
and  its  slanting  harp-strings 1 ;  bringing  too  the  tim- 
brels of  the  breed,  and  the  trulls  who  are  bidden  ply 
their  trade  at  the  Circus.     Out  upon  you,  all  ye  that 
delight   in   foreign    strumpets   with   painted    head- 
dresses !    Your  country  clown,  Quirinus,  now  trips  to 
dinner  in  Greek-fangled  slippers,2  and  wears  nieete- 
rian  2  ornaments  upon  a  ceromafic 2  neck  !    One  comes 
from  lofty  Sicyon,  another  from  Amydon  or  Andros, 
others  from  Samos,  Tralles  or  Alabanda  ;  all  making 
for  the  Esquiline,  or  for  the  hill  that  takes  its  name 
from  osier-beds  3 ;  all  ready  to  worm  their  way  into 
the  houses  of  the  great  and  become  their  masters. 
Quick  of  wit  and  of  unbounded  impudence,  they  are 
as  ready  of  speech  as  Isaeus,4  and  more  torrential. 
Say,  what  do  you  think  that  fellow  there  to  be? 
He  has  brought  with  him  any  character  you  please ; 
grammarian,  orator,  geometrician;    painter,   trainer,' 
or  rope-dancer ;  augur,  doctor  or  astrologer  : 

'  All  sciences  a  fasting  monsieur  knows, 
And  bid  him  go  to  Hell,  to  Hell  he  goes  ! ' 5 

6  From  Johnson's  London. 

37 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  III 

in  summa  non  Maurus  erat  neque  Sarmata  nee  Thrax 
qui  sumpsit  pinnas,  mediis  sed  natus  Athenis.  80 

"  Horum  ego  non  fugiam  conchylia  ?    me  prior  ille 
signabit  fultusque  tovo  meliore  recumbet, 
advectus  Roraam  quo  prima  et  cottona  vento  ? 
usque  adeo  nihil  est,  quod  nostra  infantia  caelum 
hausit  Aventini  baca  nutrita  Sabina  ?  85 

"  Quid  quod  adulandi  gens  prudentissima  laudat 
sermonem  indocti,  faciem  deformis  amici, 
et  longum  invalidi  collum  cervicibus  aequat 
Herculis  Antaeum  procul  a  tellure  tenentis, 
miratur  vocem  angustam,  qua  deterius  nee  90 

ille  sonat  quo  mordetur  gallina  marito  ? 
haec  eadem  licet  et  nobis  laudare,  sed  illis 
creditur.     an  melior,  cum  Thaida  sustinet  aut  cum 
uxorem  comoedus  agit  vel  Dorida  nullo 
cultam  palliolo  ?     mulier  nempe  ipsa  videtur,  95 

non  persona,  loqui ;  vacua  et  plana  omnia  dicas 
infra  ventriculum  et  tenui  distantia  rima. 
nee  tamen  Antiochus  nee  erit  mirabilis  iliic 
aut  Stratocles  aut  cum  molli  Demetrius  Haemo  : 
natio  comoeda  est.     rides,  maiore  cachinno  100 

concutitur  ;  flet,  si  lacrimas  conspexit  amici, 
nee  dolet ;  igniculum  brumae  si  tempore  poscas, 
accipit  endromidem  ;  si  dixeris  ( aestuo/  sudat. 
non  sumus  ergo  pares  :  melior,  qui  semper  et  omni 
nocte  dieque  potest  aliena  sumere  vultum  105 


1  Daedalus. 

2  Hercules  slew  Antaeus  by  raising  him  from  the  ground, 
till  when  he  was  invincible.         3  Names  of  Greek  actors. 


38 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   III 

In  fine,  the  man  who  took  to  himself  wings 1  was  not 
a  Moor,  nor  a  Sarmatian,  nor  a  Thracian,  but  one 
born  in  the  very  heart  of  Athens  ! 

81  "  Must  I  not  make  my  escape  from  purple-clad 
gentry  like  these  ?  Is  a  man  to  sign  his  name  be- 
fore me,  and  recline  upon  a  couch  above  mine,  who 
has  been  wafted  to  Rome  by  the  wind  which  brings 
us  our  damsons  and  our  figs  ?  Is  it  to  go  so  utterly 
for  nothing  that  as  a  babe  I  drank  in  the  air  of  the 
Aventine,  and  was  nurtured  on  the  Sabine  berry  ? 

S6  ' '  WJhatof  this  again,  that  these  people  are  experts 
in  flattery,  and  will  commend  the  talk  of  an  illiterate, 
or  the  beauty  of  a  deformed,  friend,  and  compare  the 
scraggy  neck  of  some  weakling  to  the  brawny  throat 
of  Hercules  when  holding  up  Antaeus2  from  the 
earth ;  or  go  into  ecstasies  over  a  squeaky  voice  not 
more  melodious  than  that  of  a  cock  when  he  pecks  his 
spouse  the  hen  ?  We,  no  doubt,  can  praise  the  same 
things  that  they  do ;  but  what  they  say  is  believed. 
Could  any  actor  do  better  when  he  plays  the  part  of 
Thais,  or  of  a  matron,  or  of  a  Greek  slave-girl  without 
her  pallium  ?  You  would  never  think  that  it  was  an 
actor  that  was  speaking,  but  a  very  woman,  complete 
in  all  her  parts.  Yet,  in  their  own  country,  neither 
Antiochus  3  nor  Stratocles,3  neither  Demetrius  3  nor 
the  delicate  Haemus,3  will  be  applauded  :  they  are  a 
.nation  of  play-actors.  If  you  smile,  your  (ireek  will 
split  his  sides  with  laughter;  if  he  sees  his  friend  drop 
a  tear,  he  weeps,  though  without  grieving  ;  if  you  call 
for  a  bit  of  fire  in  winter-time,  he  puts  on  his  cloak ; 
if  you  say  '  I  am  hot,'  he  breaks  into  a  sweat.  Thus 
we  are  not  upon  a  level,  he  and  I ;  he  has  always 
the  best  of  it,  being  ready  at  any  moment,  by  night 
or  by  day,  to  take  his  expression  from  another  man's 

39 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   III 

a  facie,  iactare  manus,  laudare  paratus, 
si  bene  ructavit,  si  rectum  minxit  amicus, 
si  trulla  inverso  crepitum  dedit  aurea  fundo. 

"  Praeterea  sanctum  nihil  est  neque  l  ab  inguine 
tutum, 
non  matrona  laris,  non  filia  virgo,  neque  ipse         110 
sponsus  levis  adhuc,  non  Alius  ante  pudicus  ; 
horum  si  nihil  est,  aviam  resupinat  amici. 
[scire  volunt  secreta  domus  atque  inde  timed.] 
et  quoniam  coepit  Graecorum  mentio,  transi 
gymnasia  atque  audi  facinus  maioris  abollae.  115 

Stoicus  occidit  Baream  delator  aniicum 
discipulumque  senex,  ripa  nutritus  in  ilia, 
ad  quam  Gorgonei  delapsa  est  pinna  caballi. 
non  est  Romano  cuiquam  locus  hie,  ubi  regnat 
Protogenes  aliquis  vel  Diphilus  aut  Hermarchus,  120 
qui  gentis  vitio  numquam  partitur  amicum, 
solus  habet.     nam  cum  faeilem  stillavit  in  aurem 
exiguum  de  naturae  patriaeque  veneno, 
limine  summoveor,  perierunt  tempora  longi 
servitii ;  nusquam  minor  est  iactura  clientis.  125 

"  Quod  porro  officium,  ne  nobis  blandiar,  aut  quod 
pauperis  hie  meritum,  si  curet  nocte  togatus 
currere,  cum  praetor  lictorem  impellat  et  ire 
praecipitem  iubeat  dudum  vigilantibus  orbis, 
ne  prior  Albinam  et  Modiam  collega  salutet  ?         130 

1  P  defective  here.     Most  MSS.  have  aut  for  est.      Housm. 
reads  aut  tibi. 

1  Publius  Egnatius  Celer.     See  Tac.  Ann.  xvi.  30-32  and 
Hist.  iv.  20  and  40. 

40 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   III 

face,  to  throw  up  his  hands  and  applaud  if  his  friend 
spit  or  hiccup  nicely,  or  if  his  golden  basin  make  a 
gurgle  when  turned  upside  down. 

109  "Besides  all  this,  there  is  nothing  sacred  to  his. 
Justs,:  not  the  matron  of  the  family,  nor  the  maiden 
daughter,  not  the  as  yet  unbearded  son-in-law  to  be, 
not  even  the  as  yet  unpolluted  son  ;  if  nnnp  nf  tl^^ 
b^Jtligre,  he  will  debauch  the  pn^nrlmnthpy^TW^ 
men  wantto  discover  the  secrets  of  the  family,  and ' 
so  make  themselves  fearecT  Arid  now  that  l"am 
speaking  of  the  Greeks,  pass  on  to  the  schools,  and 
hear  of  a  graver  crime;  the  Stoic1  who  informed 
against  and  slew  his  own  young  friend  and  disciple  2 
was  born  on  that  river  bank3  whei*e  the  Gorgon's 
winged  steed  fell  to  earth.  No  :  there  is  no  room 
for  any  Roman  here,  where  some  Protogenes,  or 
Diphilus,  or  Hermarchus  rules  the  roast — one  who  by 
a  defect  of  his  race  never  shares  a  friend,  but  keeps 
him  all  to  himself.  For  when  once  he  has  dropped 
into  a  facile  ear  one  particle  of  his  own  and  his 
country's  poison,  I  am  thrust  from  the  door,  and  all 
my  long  years  of  servitude  go  for  nothing.  Nowhere 
is  it  so  easy  as  at  Rome  to  throw  an  old  client  over- 
board. 

126  "  A»d-b£s_ides,  not  to  flatter  ourselves,  what, 
value  is  there  in  a  poor  man's  serving  here  in  Rome, 
even  if  he  be  at  pains  to  hurry  along  in  his  toga 
before  daylight,  seeing  that  the  praetor  is  bidding 
the  lictor  to  go  full  speed  lest  his  colleague  should 
be  the  first  to  salute  the  childless  ladies  Albina  and 
Modia,  who  have  long  ago  been  awake.     Here  in 

2  For  the  accusation  and  death  of  Barea  Soranus,  see  Tac. 
Ann.  xvi.  23  and  33. 
*  i.e.  at  Tarsus  on  the  river  Cydnua. 

4i 


IVVENALIS    SATVRA    III 

divitis  hie  servo  claudit  latus  ingenuorum 
filivis ;  alter  enim  quantum  in  legione  tribuni 
accipiunt  donat  Calvinae  vel  Catienae, 
ut  semel  aut  iterum  super  illam  palpitet ;  at  tu, 
cum  tibi  vestiti  facies  scorti  placet,  haeres  135 

et  dubitas  alta  Chionen  deducere  sella, 
da  testem  Romae  tam  sanctum  quam  fuit  hospes 
numinis  Idaei,  procedat  vel  Numa  vel  qui 
servavit  trepidam  flagranti  ex  aede  Minervam  : 
protinus  ad  censum,  de  moribus  ultima  fiet  140 

quaestio.  '  quot  pascit  servos  ?  quot  possidet  agri 
iugera  ?  quam  multa  magnaque  paropside  cenat  ?  ' 
quantum  quisque  sua  nummorum  servat  in  area, 
tantum  habet  et  fidei.     iures  licet  et  Samothracum 
et  nostrorum  aras,  contemnere  fulmina  pauper       145 
creditur  atque  deos  dis  ignoscentibus  ipsis. 

"  Quid  quod  materiam  praebet  causasque  iocorum 
omnibus  hie  idem,  si  foeda  et  scissa  lacerna, 
si  toga  sordidula  est  et  rupta  calceus  alter 
pelle  patet,  vel  si  consuto  vulnere  crassum  150 

atque  recens  linum  ostendit  non  una  cicatrix  ? 
nil  habet  infelix  paupertas  durius  in  se, 
quam  quod  ridiculos  homines  facit.     (  exeat/  inquit, 
f  si  pudor  est,  et  de  pulvino  surgat  equestri 
cuius  res  legi  non  sufficit,  et  sedeant  hie  155 

lenonum  pueri  quocumque  ex  fornice  nati ; 
hie  plaudat  nitidi  praeconis  filius  inter 

1  Ladies  of  rank. 

2  P.  Cornelius  Seipio  received  the  image  of  Cybele  when 
brought  from  Phrygia,  B.C.  204. 

3  L.  Caecilius  Metellus,  in  B.C.  241. 

42 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   III 

Rome  the  son  of  free-born  parents  has  to  give  the  wall 
to  some  rich  man's  slave  ;  for  that  other  will  give  as 
much  as  the  whole  pay  of  a  legionary  tribune  to 
enjoy  the  chance  favours  of  a  Calvina 1  or  a  Catiena,1 
while  you,  when  the  face  of  some  gay-decked  harlot 
takes  your  fancy,  scarce  venture  to  hand  her  down 
from  her  lofty  chair.  At  Rome  you  may  pi-oduce  a 
witness  as  unimpeachable  as  the  host  of  the  Idaean 
Goddess2 — Numa  himself  might  present  himself,  or 
he  who  rescued  the  trembling  Minerva  from  the 
blazing  shrine 3 — the  first  question  asked  will  be  as 
to  his  wealth,  the  last  about  his  character:  'how 
many  slaves  does  he  keep  ? '  '  how  many  acres  does 
he  own?'  'how  big  and  how  many  are  his  dinner 
dishes?'  A  man's  word  is  believed  in  exact  propor- 
tion to  t.ne  amount  nf  casli_jviiieh^  ne  keeps  in  his 
strong  box.  Though  he  swear  by  all  the  altars  of 
Samothrace  or  of  Rome,  the  poor  man  is  believed  to 
care  naught  for  Gods  and  thunderbolts,  the  Gods 
themselves  forgiving  him. 

147  "And  what  of  this,  that  the  poor  man  gives  food 
and  occasion  for  jest  if  his  cloak  be  torn  and  dirty ; 
if  his  toga  be  a  little  soiled ;  if  one  of  his  shoes 
gapes  where  the  leather  is  spli^or  if  some  fresh 
stitches  of  coarse  thread  reveal  where  not  one,  but 
many  a  rent  has  been  patched  ?  Of  all  the  woes  of 
luckless  poverty  none  is  harder T?o"enclul'e  than  this, 
that  it  exposesinejxj^ridicule:  '  (Jut  you  go  !  for 
very  shame,'  says  the  marshal ;  '  out  of  the  Knights' 
stalls,  all  of  you  whose  means  do  not  satisfy  the  law.' 
Here  let  the  sons  of  panders,  born  in  any  brothel, 
take  their  seats ;  here  let  the  spruce  son  of  an 
auctioneer  clap  his  hands,  with  the  smart  sons  of  a 
gladiator  on  one  side  of  him  and  the  young  gentle- 

43 


IVVENALIS    SATVRA   III 

pinnirapi  cultos  iuvenes  iuvenesque  lanistae  ' : 

sic  libitum  vano,  qui  nos  distinxit,  Othoni. 

quis  gener  hie  placuit  censu  minor  atque  puellae  160 

sarcinulis  impar  ?  quis  pauper  scribitur  heres  ? 

quando  in  consilio  est  aedilibus  ?  agmine  facto 

debuerant  olim  tenues  migrasse  Quirites. 

"  Haut  facile  emergunt  quorum  virtutibus  opstat 
res  angusta  domi,  sed  Romae  durior  illis  165 

conatus  :  magno  hospitium  misei-abile,  magno 
servorum  ventres,  et  frugi  cenula  magno. 
fictilibus  cenare  pudet,  quod  turpe  negabis 
translatus  subito  ad  Marsos  mensamque  Sabellam 
contentusque  illic  Veneto  duroque  cucullo.  170 

"  Pars  magna  Italiae  est,  si  verum  admittimus, 
in  qua 
nemo  togam  sumit  nisi  mortuus.     ipsa  dierum 
festorum  herboso  colitur  si  quando  theatro 
maiestas  tandemque  redit  ad  pulpita  notum 
exodium,  cum  personae  pallentis  hiatum  175 

in  gremio  matris  formidat  rusticus  infans, 
aequales  habitus  illic  similesque  videbis 
orchestram  et  populum,  clari  velamen  honoris 
sufficiunt  tunicae  summis  aedilibus  albae. 
hie  ultra  vires  habitus  nitor,  hie  aliquid  plus  180 

quam  satis  est  interdum  aliena  sumitur  area, 
commune  id  vitium  est,  hie  vivimus  ambitiosa 
paupertate  omnes.     quid  te  moror  ?  omnia  Romae 
cum  pretio.     quid  das,  ut  Cossum  aliquando  salutes, 


1  The  law  of  Otho  (b.c.  67)  reserved  for  knights  the  first 
fourteen  rows  in  the  theatre  behind  the  orchestra  where 
senators  sat.  The  knights  (equites)  were  the  wealthy 
middle  class,  each  having  to  possess  a  census  of  400,000 
sesterces. 

44 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   III 

men  of  a  trainer  on  the  other  :  such  was  the  will  of  the 
numskull  Otho  who  assigned  to  each  of  us  his 
place.1  Who  ever  was  approved  as  a  son-in-law  if  he 
was  short  of  cash,  and  no  match  for  the  money-bags 
of  the  young  lady?  What  poor  man  ever  gets  a 
legacy,  or  is  appointed  assessor  to  an  aedile  ?  Romans 
without  money  should  have  marched  out  in  a  body 
long  ago ! 

1(34  "J.t  is  no  easy  matter,  anywhere,  for  a  man  to 
rise  when  poverty  stands  111  the  way  uf  his  merlEsT 
but  nowhere  is  the  effort  harder  than  in  Rome, 
where  vou  must  pay  a  big  rent  for  a  wretched  lodg-~ 
mg,  a  big  sum  to  fill  the  bellies  ot  your  slaves,  and 
buy  a  frugal  dinner  tor  yourself  You  are  ashamed  to 
dine  off'  dell';  but  you  would  see  no  shame  in  it  if 
transported  suddenly  to  a  Marsian  or  Sabine  table, 
where  you  would  be  pleased  enough  to  wear  a  cape 
of  coarse  Venetian  blue. 

171  "  There  are  many  parts  of  Italy,  to  tell  the  truth, 
in  which  no  man  puts  on  a  toga  until  he  is  dead. 
Even  on  days  of  festival,  when  a  brave  show  is  made 
in  a  theatre  of  turf,  and  when  the  well-known  farce 
steps  once  more  upon  the  boards ;  when  the  rustic 
babe  on  its  mother's  breast  shrinks  back  affrighted 
at  the  gaping  of  the  pallid  masks,  you  will  see  stalls 
and  populace  all  dressed  alike,  and  the  worshipful 
aediles  content  with  white  tunics  as  vesture  for  then- 
high  office.  ...In  Rome,  everyone  dresses  above  his 
means,  and  sometimes  something  mni-p  th^n  what  is 
enough  is  taken  out  of  another  man'g  pm-Vet  This 
failing  is  universal  heret^we  all  live  in  a  state  of 
pretentious  poverty.  To  put,  it  shortly,  nothing  ca*t- 
lio-liar!  in  Rome  for  nothing.  How  much  does  it 
cost  you  to  be  able  now  and  then  to  make  your  bow 

45 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    III 

ut  te  respiciat  clauso  Veiento  labello  ?  185 

ille  metit  barbam,  crinem  hie  deponit  amati ; 
plena  domus  libis  venalibus ;  accipe,  et  istud 
fermentum  tibi  habe  :  praestare  tributa  clientes 
cogimur  et  cultis  augere  peculia  servis. 

"  Quis  timet  aut  timuit  gelida  Praeneste  ruinam  190 
aut  positis  nemorosa  inter  iuga  Volsiniis  aut 
simplicibus  Gabiis  aut  proni  Tiburis  arce  ? 
nos  urbem  colimus  tenui  tibicine  fultam 
magna  parte  sui  ;  nam  sic  labentibus  obstat 
vilicus  et,  veteris  rimae  cum  texit  hiatum,  195 

securos  pendente  iubet  dormire  ruina. 
vivendum  est  illic  ubi  nulla  incendia,  nulli 
nocte  metus.    iam  poscit  aquam,  iam  irivola  transfert 
Vcalegon,  tabulata  tibi  iam  tertia  fumant  : 
tu  nescis  ;  nam  si  gradibus  trepidatur  ab  imis,       200 
ultimus  ardebit  quern  tegula  sola  tuetur 
a  pluvia,  molles  ubi  reddunt  ova  columbae. 
lectus  erat  Codro  Procula  minor,  urceoli  sex 
ornamentum  abaci  nee  non  et  parvulus  infra 
cantharus  etrecubans  sub  eodem  marmore  Chiron,  205 
iamque  vetus  graecos  servabat  cista  libellos 
et  divina  opici  rodebant  carmina  mures, 
nil  habuit  Codrus,  quis  enim  negat  ?  et  tamen  illud 

1  The  rendering  is  uncertain.  Duff translates,  "Take  your 
money  and  keep  your  cake." 

2  At  this  feast  cakes  (liba)  are  provided  ;  but  the  guests 
are  expected  to  give  a  tip  to  the  slaves.  According  to  Duff, 
the  client  pays  the  slave,  but  is  too  indignant  to  take  the  cake. 

3  Lit.  "a  slender  flute-player  "  ;  props  were  so  called  either 
from  their  resemblance  to  a  flute,  or  to  the  position  in  which 
the  flute  was  held  in  playing. 

46 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   III 

to  Cossus?  Or  to  be  vouchsafed  one  glance,  with 
lip  firmly  closed,  from  Veiento  ?  One  of  these  great 
men  is  cutting  off*  his  beard ;  another  is  dedicating 
the  locks  of  a  favourite;  the  house  is  full  of  cakes — 
which  you  will  have  to  pay  for.  Take  your  cake,1 
and  let  this  thought  rankle  in  your  heart :  we  clients 
are  compelled  to  pay  tribute  and  add  to  a  sleek 
menial's  perquisites.2 

100  «  who  at  cool  Praeneste,  or  at  Volsinii  amid  its 
leafy  hills,  was  ever  afraid  of  his    house  tumbling 
down?     Who  in   modest  Gabii,   or  on    the    sloping 
heights    of  Tivoli  ?    J3nt   hei-p    Wf>    inl-mKit    n    rjty 
supported    for   the   most    part   by  slender    props : 3 
for    that  is  how  the  bailiff  patches  up    the    cracks 
in  the  old  wall,  bidding  the  inmates  sleep  at  ease 
under  a  roof  ready  to  tumble  about  their  ears.      No, 
no,  I  must  live  where  there  are  no  fires,  no  nightly 
alarms.       Ucalegon4   below   is  already  shouting  far 
water  and  shifting  his   chattels;   smoke  is  pouring 
out  of  your   third-floor  attic  above,   but  you  know 
nothing  of  it ;  for  if  the  alarm  begins  in  the  ground- 
floor,  the  last  man  to  burn  will  be  he  who  has  nothing 
to  shelter  him  from  the  rain  but  the  tiles,  where  the 
gentle  doves  lay  their  eggs.     Codrus  possessed  a  bed 
too  small  for  the  dwarf  Procula,  a  marble  slab  adorned 
by  six   pipkins,   with   a   small  drinking  cup,   and  a 
recumbent  Chiron  below,  and  an  old  chest  containing 
Greek  books  whose  divine  lays  were  being  gnawed 
by    unlettered    mice.       Poor    Codrus    had    nothing, 
it  is  true :  but  he  lost  that  nothing,  which  was  his 

4  Borrowed  from  Virgil,  A  en.  ii.  311,  of  the  firing  of  Troy, 
iam  pi-oximus  ardet—  Vcalegon.  Juvenal's  friend  inhabits 
the  third  floor,  and  the  fire  has  broken  out  on  the  ground 
floor. 

47 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    III 

perdidit  infelix  totum  nihil,     ultimus  autem 
aerumnae  est  cumulus,  quod  nudum  et  frusta  ro- 

gantem  210 

nemo  cibo,  nemo  hospitio  tectoque  iuvabit. 

"  Si  magna  Asturici  cecidit  domus,  horrida  mater, 
pullati  proccres,  differt  vadimonia  praetor, 
turn  gemimus  casus  urbis,  tunc  odimus  ignem. 
ardet  adhuc,  et  iam  accurrit  qui  marmora  donet,  215 
conferat  inpensas  ;  hie  nuda  et  Candida  signa, 
hie  aliquid  praeclarum1  Euphranoris  et  Polycliti, 
hie  2  Asianorum  Vetera  ornamenta  deorum, 
hie  libros  dabit  et  forulos  mediamque  Minervam, 
hie  modium  argenti.     meliora  ac  plura  reponit      220 
Persicus,  orborum  lautissimus  et  merito  iam 
suspectus  tamquam  ipse  suas  incenderit  aedes. 

"  Si  potes  avelli  circensibus,  optima  Sorae 
aut  Fabrateriae  domus  aut  Frusinone  paratur 
quanti  nunc  tenebras  unum  conducis  in  annum.    225 
hortulus  hie  puteusque  brevis  nee  reste  movendus 
in  tenuis  plantas  facili  diffunditur  haustu. 
vive  bidentis  amans  et  culti  vilicus  horti, 
unde  epulum  possis  centum  dare  Pythagoreis. 
est  aliquid,  quocumque  loco,  quocumque  recessu  230 
unius  sese  dominum  fecisse  lacertae. 

"  Plurimus  hie  aeger  moritur  vigilando  (set  ipsum 
languorem  peperit  cibus  inperfectus  et  haerens 
ardenti  stomacho),  nam  quae  3  meritoria  somnum 

1  praeclarum  P  :  Housm.  conj.  praedarum. 

2  hie  conj.  by  Jahn  and  confirmed  by  0  and  Vind. :  haec  P 
Btich.:  Housm.  conj.  aera. 

3  Housm.  adopts  the  conj.  quern  (Hadr.  Valesius)  :  quae 
PALO. 

48 


JtJVENAL,  SATIRE   III 

all ;  and  the  last  straw  in  his  heap  of  misery  is  this, 
that  though  heis  destitute  and  begging  for  a  hit*/ 
JiD_iffie_willheTp~him  with  a  meal,  no  one  offbrhim 
board  orshelter:       — " 

'""BjuLiLthe  grand  house  of  Asturicus  be  de- 
stroyed, the  matrons  go  dishevelled,  your  great  men 
put  on   mourning,  the  praetor  adjourns  his  court: 
then  indeed  do  we  deplore  the  calamities  of  the  city, 
and  bewail  jtsjires  \     before  the  house  has  ceased' 
to  burn,  up  comes  one  with  a  gift  of  marble  or  of 
building  materials,  another  offers  nude  and  glisten- 
ing statues,  a  third  some  notable  work  of  Euphranor 
or  Polyclitus,1  or  bronzes  that  had  been  the  glory  of 
old  Asian  shrines.     Others  will  offer  books  and  book- 
cases, or  a  bust  of  Minerva,  or  a  hundredweight  of 
silver-plate.     Thus  does  Persicus,  that  most  sumptu- 
ous of  childless  men,  replace  what  he  has  lost  with 
more  and  better  things,  and  with  good  reason  incurs 
the  suspicion  of  having  set  his  own  house  on  fire. 

223  "If  you  can  tear  yourself  away  from  the  games 
of  the  Circus,  jlqu_  can  buy  an  excellent  house  at 
Sora,  at  Fabrateria  or  Frusino,  for  what  you  now  pay 
in  Rome  to  rent  a  dark  garret  tor  one  year.  And 
you  will  there  have  a  little  garden,  with  a  shallow 
well  from  which  you  can  easily  draw  water,  without 
need  of  a  rope,  to  bedew  your  weakly  plants.  There 
make  your  abode,  mattock  in  hand,  tending  a  trim 
garden  fit  to  feast  a  hundred  Pythagoreans.2  It 
is  something,  in  whatever  spot,  however  remote,  to 
have  become  the  possessor  of  a  single  lizard ! 

2^2  "  Most  sick  people  here  in  Rome  perish  for  want 
olsleep,  the  illness  itself  having  been  produced  by 
food  lying   undigested   on  a  fevered  stomach.     For 

1  Celebrated  Greek  sculptors.         J  i.e.  vegetarians. 


49 

E 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    III 

admittunt  ?  magnis  opibus  dormitur  in  urbe.  235 

inde  caput  morbi.     raedarum  transitus  arto 
vicorum  in  flexu 1  et  stantis  convicia  mandrae 
eripient  somnum  Druso  vitulisque  marinis. 
si  vocat  officium,  turba  cedente  vehetur 
dives  et  ingenti  curret  super  ora  Liburna  240 

atque  obiter  leget  aut  scribet  vel  dormiet  intus ; 
namque  facit  somnum  clausa  lectica  fenestra, 
ante  tamen  veniet :  nobis  properantibus  opstat 
unda  prior,  magno  populus  premit  agmine  lunibos 
qui  sequitur  ;  ferit  hie  cubito,  ferit  assere  duro      245 
alter,  at  hie  tignum  capiti  incutit,  ille  metretam. 
pinguia  crura  luto,  planta  mox  undique  magna 
calcor,  et  in  digito  clavus  mihi  militis  haeret. 

"  Nonne  vides  quanto  celebretur  sportula  fumo? 
centum  convivae,  sequitur  sua  quemque  culina.     250 
Corbulo  vix  ferret  tot  vasa  ingentia,  tot  res 
inpositas  capiti,  quas  recto  vertice  portat 
servulus  infelix  et  cursu  ventilat  ignem. 
scinduntur  tunicae  sartae  modo,  longa  coruscat 
serraco  veniente  abies,  atque  altera  pinum  255 

plaustra  vehunt ;  nutant  alte  populoque  minantur. 
nam  si  procubuit  qui  saxa  Ligustica  portat 
axis  et  eversum  fudit  super  agmina  montem, 
quid  superest  de  corporibus  ?  quis  membra,  quis  ossa 

1  Biich.  and  Owen  read  inflexu,  after  PVind.tf*:  Hqusui. 
in  flexu.     See  Journal  of  Phil.  No.  67,  p.  40. 

1  Probably  the  somnolent  Emperor  Claudius  is  meant. 
s  The  hundred  guests  are  clients  ;  each  is  followed  by  a 
slave  carrying  a  kitchener  to  keep  the  dole  hot  when  received. 

5° 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   III 

what  sleep  is  possible  in  a  lodging  ?     Who  but  the 
wealthy  get  sleep  in  Rome  ?     There  lies  the  root  of 
the  disorder.     The  crossing  of  wagons  in  the  narrow 
winding  streets,  the  slanging  of  drovers  when  brought 
to  a  stand,  would  make  sleep  impossible  for  a  Drusus  1 
—or  a  sea-calf.     When  the  rich  man  has  a  call  of 
social  duty,  the  mob  makes  way  for  him  as  he  is 
borne  swiftly  over  their  heads  in  a  huge  Liburnian 
car.       He    writes   or   reads   or   sleeps    as    he    goes 
along,  for  the  closed  window  of  the  litter  induces 
slumber.     Yet  he  will  arrive  before  us  ;  hurry  as  we 
may,  we  are  blocked  by  a  surging  crowd  in  front, 
and   by  a  dense  mass  of  people  pressing  in  on  us 
from    behind :    one   man    digs    an    elbow  into   me, 
another  a  sedan-pole;    one  bangs  a  beam,  another 
a  wine-cask,   against   my  head.      My  legs   are    be- 
plastered  with  mud ;  huge  feet  trample  on  me  from 
every  side,  and  a  soldier  plants  his  hobnails  firmly 
on  my  toe. 

249  "  See  now  the  smoke  rising  from  that  crowd 
which  hurries  for  the  daily  dole  :  there  are  a  hundred 
guests,  each  followed  by  a  kitchener  of  his  own.2 
Corbulo  3  himself  could  scarce  bear  the  weight  of  all 
the  big  vessels  and  other  gear  which  that  poor  little 
slave  is  carrying  with  head  erect,  fanning  the  flame 
as  he  runs  along.  Newly-patched  tunics  are  torn 
in  two ;  up  comes  a  huge  log  swaying  on  a  wagon, 
and  then  a  second  dray  carrying  a  whole  pine-tree, 
towering  aloft  and  threatening  the  people.  For  if 
that  axle  with  its  load  of  Ligurian  marble  breaks 
down,  and  pours  its  spilt  contents  on  to  the  crowd, 
what  is  left  of  their  bodies  ?     Who  can  identify  the 

3  The  great   Roman   general   under   Claudius   and  Nero, 
famed  for  his  physical  strength. 

5' 
E  2 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   III 

invenit  ?  obtritum  vulgi  perit  omne  cadaver  260 

more  animae.     domus  interea  secura  patellas 
iam  lavat  et  bucca  foculum  excitat  et  sonat  unctis 
striglibus  et  pleno  componit  lintea  guto. 
haec  inter  pueros  varie  properantur.,  at  ille 
iam  sedet  in  ripa  taetrumque  novicius  horret,        265 
porthmea  nee  sperat  caenosi  gurgitis  alnum 
infelix  nee  habet  quem  porrigat  ore  trientem. 

"  Respice  nunc  alia  ac  diversa  pericula  noctis  : 
quod  spatium  tectis  sublimibus  unde  cerebrum 
testa  ferity  quotiens  rimosa  et  curta  fenestris  270 

vasa  cadant,  quanto  percussum  pondere  signent 
et  laedant  silicem.     possis  ignavus  haberi 
et  subiti  casus  inprovidus,  ad  cenam  si 
intestatus  eas :  adeo  tot  fata,  quot  ilia 
nocte  patent  vigiles  te  praetereunte  fenestrae.       275 
ergo  optes  votumque  feras  miserabile  tecum, 
ut  sint  contentae  patulas  defundere  pelves. 

"  Ebrius  ac  petulans,  qui  nullum  forte  cecidit, 
dat  poenas,  noctem  patitur  lugentis  amicum 
Pelidae,  cubat  in  faciem,  mox  deinde  supinus ;       280 
[ergo  non  aliter  poterit  dormire  :  quibusdam] 
somnum  rixa  facit.     sed  quamvis  improbus  annis 
atque  mero  fervens,  cavet  hunc,  quem  coccina  laena 
vitari  iubet  et  comitum  longissimus  ordo, 
multum  praeterea  flammarum  et  aenea  lampas  ;     285 

52 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   III 

limbs,  who  the  bones?  The  poor  man's  crushed 
corpse  disappears,  just  like  his  soul.  At  home  mean- 
while the  folk,  unwitting,  are  washing  the  dishes 
blowing  up  the  fire  with  distended  cheek,  clattering 
over  the  greasy  flesh-scrapers,  filling  the  oil-flasks 
and  laying  out  the  towels.  And  while  each  of  them 
is  thus  busy  over  his  own  task,  their  master  is  already 
sitting,  a  new  arrival,  upon  the  bank,  and  shuddering 
at  the  grim  ferryman  :  he  has  no  copper  in  his  mouth 
to  tender  for  his  fare,  and  no  hope  of  a  passage  over 
the  murky  flood. 

268  "And_jiow  regard  the  different  and  diverse 
perils_fl,f  the  night.  See  what  a  height  it  is  to  that 
towering  roof  from  which  a  potsherd  comes  crack 
upon  my  head  every  time  that  some  broken  or  leaky 
vessel  is  pitched  out  of  the  window  !  See  with  what 
a  smash  it  strikes  and  dints  the  pavement !  There's 
death  in  every  open  window  as  you  pass"  aIong~at~ 
night;  you  may  well  be  deemed  a  fool,  improvident 
of  sudden  accident,  if  you  go  out  to  dinner  without 
having  made  your  will.  You  can  but  hope,  and  put 
up  a  piteous  prayer  in  your  heart,  that  they  may  be 
content  to  pour  down  on  you  the  contents  of  their 
slop-pails ! 

27S  u  Your  drunken  bully  who  has  by  chance  not 
slain  his  man  passes  a  night  of  torture  like  that  of 
Achilles  when  he  bemoaned  bis  friend,  lying  now 
upon  his  face,  and  now  upon  his  back ;  he  will  get 
no  rest  in  any  other  way,  since  some  men  can  only 
sleep  after  a  brawl.  Yet  however  reckless  the  fellow 
may  be,  however  hot  with  wine  and  young  blood,  he 
gives  a  wide  berth  to  one  whose  scarlet  cloak  and  long 
retinue  of  attendants,  with  torches  and  brass  lamps 
in  their  hands,  bid  him  keep  his  distance.   But  to  me, 

53 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   III    . 

me,  quern  luna  solet  deducere  vel  breve  lumen 
candelae,  cuius  dispenso  et  tempero  filum, 
contemnit.     miserae  cognosce  prohoemia  rixae, 
si  rixa  est,  ubi  tu  pulsas,  ego  vapulo  tantum. 
stat  contra  starique  iubet :  parere  necesse  est ;     290 
nam  quid  agas,  cum  te  furiosus  cogat  et  idem 
fortior  ?  '  unde  venis  ?  ',  exclamat,  '  cuius  aceto, 
cuius  conche  tumes  ?  quis  tecum  sectile  porrum 
sutor  et  elixi  vervecis  labra  comedit  ? 
nil  mihi  respondes  ?  aut  die  aut  accipe  calcem.      295 
ede  ubi  consistas  ;  in  qua  te  quaero  proseucha  ? ' 
dicere  si  temptes  aliquid  tacitusve  recedas, 
tantumdem  est :  feriunt  pariter,  vadimonia  deinde 
irati  faciunt.     libertas  pauperis  haec  est : 
pulsatus  rogat  et  pugnis  concisus  adorat  300 

ut  liceat  paucis  cum  dentibus  inde  reverti. 

"  Nee   tamen   haec   tantum   metuas.     nam   qui 
spoliet  te 
non  derit  clausis  domibus,  postquam  omnis  ubique 
fixa  catenatae  siluit  compago  tabernae. 
interdum  et  ferro  subitus  grassator  agit  rem ;         305 
armato  quotiens  tutae  custode  tenentur 
et  Pomptina  palus  et  Gallinaria  pinus, 
sic  inde  hue  omnes  tamquam  ad  vivaria  currunt 
qua  fornace  graves,  qua  non  incude  catenae  ? 
maximus  in  vinclis  ferri  modus,  ut  timeas  ne  310 

vomer  deficiat,  ne  marrae  et  sarcula  desint. 
felices  proavorum  atavos,  felicia  dicas 

54 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   III 

who  am  wont  to  be  escorted  home  by  the  moon, 
or  by  the  scant  light  of  a  candle  whose  wick  I  hus- 
band with  due  care,  he  pays  no  respect.  Hear  how 
the  wretched  fray  begins — if  fray  it  can  be  called 
when  you  do  all  the  thrashing  and  I  get  all  the  blows  ! 
The  fellow  stands  up  against  me,  and  bids  me  halt ; 
obey  I  must.  What  else  can  you  do  when  attacked  by 
a  madman  stronger  than  yourself?  'Where  are  you 
from?'  shouts  he  ;  'whose  swipes,  whose  beans  have 
blown  you  out  ?  With  what  cobbler  have  you  been 
munching  cut  leeks x  and  boiled  sheep's  head  ? — 
What,  sirrah,  no  answer?  Speak  out,  or  take  that 
upon  your  shins  !  Where  is  your  stand  ?  In  what 
prayer-shop  2  shall  I  find  you  ? '  Whether  you  venture 
to  say  anything,  or  make  off  silently,  it's  all  one  :  he 
will  thrash  you  just  the  same,  and  then,  in  a  rage, 
take  bail  from  you.  Such  is  the  liberty  nf  the  poor 
man :  having  been  pounded  and  cuffed  into  a  jelly- 
he  begs  and  prays  to  be  allowed  to  return  home 
Jyith  a  few  teeth  in  hjfi  bend  I- 

302  cc  Nor  are  these  your  only  terrors.  -When  your 
lionse  is  shut,  when  bar  and  chain  have  made  fast 
.your  shop,  and  all  is  silent,  you  will  be  robbed  by 
a^  burglar  ;  or  perhaps  a  cut-throat  will  do  for  you 
quickly  with  cold  steeL  For  whenever  the  Pontine 
marshes  and  the  Gallinarian  forest  are  secured  by  an 
armed  guard,  all  that  tribe  flocks  into  Rome  as  into 
a  fish-preserve.  What  furnaces,  what  anvils,  are  not 
groaning  with  the  forging  of  chains  ?  That  is  how 
our  iron  is  mostly  used  ;  and  you  may  well  fear  that 
ere  long  none  will  be  left  for  plough-shares,  none  for 
hoes  and  mattocks.     Happy  were  the  forbears  of  our 


1  See  note  on  xiv.  133. 

:  Proseucha,  a  Jewish  synagogue  or  praying-house. 


55 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   IV 

saecula  quae  quondam  sub  regibus  atque  tribunis 
viderunt  uno  contentam  carcere  Romam. 

"His  alias  poteram  et  pluris  subnectere  causas ;  315 
sed  iumenta  vocant  et  sol  inclinat,  eundum  est ; 
nam  mihi  commota  iam  dudum  mulio  virga 
adnuit.     ergo  vale  nostri  memor,  et  quotiens  te 
Roma  tuo  refici  properantem  reddet  Aquino, 
me    quoque    ad    Helvinam    Cererem    vestramque 

Dianam  320 

converte  a  Cumis.     saturarum  ego,  ni  pudet  Mas, 
auditor1  gelidos  veniam  caligatus  in  agros." 


SATVRA  IV 

Ecce  iteru'm  Crispinus,  et  est  mihi  saepe  vocandus 
ad  partes,  monstrum  nulla  virtute  redemptum 
a  vitiis,  aegrae  solaque  libidine  fortes 
deliciae  ;  viduas  tantum  aspernatur  2  adulter, 
quid  refert  igitur,  quantis  iumenta  fatiget  5 

porticibus,  quanta  nemorum  vectetur  in  umbra, 
iugera  quot  vicina  foro,  quas  emerit  aedes  ? 
nemo  malus  felix,  minime  3  corrupter  et  idem 
incestus,  cum  quo  nuper  vittata  iacebat 
sanguine  adhuc  vivo  terram  subitura  sacerdos.  10 

1  auditor  PVind.Biich.  (1910):  adiutor  fBiich.  (1893). 

2  aspernatur  \p :  aspernatus  Vind.  etc.  and  Housm  •  seer- 
naturTSA.  ' 

3  minime  PVind.if/ :  quin  ait  2  :  Housm.  conj.  qum  sit. 

56 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   IV 

great-grandfathers,  happy  the  days  of  old  which 
under  Kings  and  Tribunes  beheld  Rome  satisfied 
with  a  single  gaol ! 

315  "  To  these  I  might  add  more  anrj  different  yen 
sons ;  but  my  cattle  call,  the  sun  is  sloping  and  I 
.must  a  wax*  rcyy  muleteer  has  long  been  signalling  to 
me  with  his  whip.  And  so  farewell ;  forget  me  not. 
And  if  ever  you  run  over  from  Rome  to  your  own 
Aquinum 1  to  recruit,  summon  me  too  from  Cumae 
to  your  Helvine2  Ceres  and  Diana;  I  will  come 
over  to  your  cold  country  in  my  thick  boots  to 
hear  your  Satires,  if  they  think  me  worthy  of  that 
honour." 


SATIRE   IV 

A  Tale  of  a  Turbot 

Crispinus^  once  again  !  a  man  whom  I  shall  often 
have  to  call  on  to  the  scene,  a  prodigy  of  wickedness 
without  one  redeeming  virtue ;  a  sickly  libertine, 
strong  only  in  his  lusts,  which  scorn  none  save  the 
unweddeJ. — What  mallets  it  then  huw  apacious  aic~ 
the  colonnades  which  tire  out  his  horses,  how  large 
the  shady  groves  in  which  he  drives,  how  many  acres 
near  the  Forum,  how  many  palaces,  he  has  bought  ? 
No  bad  man  can  be  happy  :  least  of  all  the  in- 
cestuous  seducer  wilh  whCm  lately  lay  a  filleted  3 
priestess,  doomed  to  pass  beneath  the  earth  with 
the  blood  still  warm  within  her  veins. 

1  Aquinum  was  Juvenal's  birthplace. 

2  The  origin  of  this  name  of  Ceres  is  unknown. 

3  The  vitta,  or  fillet,  was  worn  round  the  hair  by  Vestal 
Virgins. 

57 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   IV 

Sed  nunc  de  factis  levioribus.     et  tamen  alter 
si  fecisset  idem,  caderet  sub  iudice  morum ; 
nam  quod  turpe  bonis  Titio  Seioque,  decebat 
Crispinum  :  quid  agas,  cum  dira  et  foedior  omni 
crimine  persona  est?  mullum  sex  milibus  emit,       15 
aequantem  sane  paribus  sestertia  libris, 
ut  perhibent  qui  de  magnis  maiora  loquuntur. 
consilium  laudo  artificis,  si  munere  tanto 
praecipuam  in  tabulis  ceram  senis  abstulit  orbi ; 
est  ratio  ulterior,  magnae  si  misit  amicae,  20 

quae  vehitur  clauso  latis  specularibus  antro. 
nil  tale  expectes  :  emit  sibi.     multa  videmus 
quae  miser  et  fVugi  non  fecit  Apicius  ;  hoc  tu, 
succinctus  patria  quondam,  Crispine,  papyro  ? 
hoc  pretio  squamas  1  ?     potuit  fortasse  minoris         25 
piscator  quam  piscis  emi ;  provincia  tanti 
vendit  agros,  sed  maiores  Apulia  vendit. 
qualis  tunc  epulas  ipsum  gluttisse  putamus 
induperatorem,  cum  tot  sestertia,  partem 
exiguam  et  modicae  sumptam  de  margine  cenae,     30 
purpureus  magni  ructarit  scurra  Palati, 
iam  princeps  equitum,  magna  qui  voce  solebat 
vendere  municipes  fracta  de  merce  siluros  ? 
incipe,  Calliope,     licet  et  considere,  non  est 
cantandum,  res  vera  agitur.     narrate,  puellae  35 

Pierides  ;  prosit  mihi  vos  dixisse  puellas. 

1  P<has  squamae.     So  Biich. 

1  A  celebrated  gourmand. 
58 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   IV 

11  To-day  I  shall  tell  of  a  less  heinous  deed,  though 
had  any  other  man  done  the  like,  he  would  fall 
under  the  censor's  lash  :  for  what  would  be  shameful 
in  good  men  like  Seius  or  Teius  sat  gracefully  on 
Crispinus.  What  can  you  do  when  the  man  himself 
is  more  foul  and  monstrous  than  any  charge  you  can 
bnng  against  him  ?  Crispinus  bought  a  mullet  for 
six  thousand  sesterces — one  thousand  sesterces  for 
every  pound  of  fish,  as  those  would  say  who  make 
big  things  bigger  in  the  telling  of  them.  I  could 
commend  the  man's  cunning  if  by  such  a  lordly  gift 
hXsecured  the  first  plare  in  the  will  of  some  ohi]d 
lp^g  n]fl  nr.^  orr  better  still  sent  it  to  some  great 
lady  who  rides  in  a  close,  broad-windowed  litter. 
Bgt  nothing  of  the  sort;  he  bought  it  for  himself: 
we  see  many  a  thing  done  nowadays  which  poor 
niggardly  Apicius l  never  did.  What  ?  Did  you, 
Crispinus — you  who  once  wore  a  strip  of  your  native 
papyrus  round  your  loins — give  that  price  for  a  fish  ? 
A_jjnce_bigger  than  you  need  have  paid  for  the 
j^erman  hiimselTfa' price  tor  which  you  might  buy 
a  whole  estate  in  some  province,  or  a  still  larger  one 
in  Apulia.  What  kind  of  feasts  are  we  to  suppose 
were  guzzled  by  our  Emperor  himself  when  all  those 
thousands  of  sesterces — forming  a  small  fraction,  a 
mere  side-dish  of  a  modest  entertainment — were 
belched  up  by  a  purple-clad  parasite  of  the  august 
Palace — one  who  is  now  Chief  of  the  Knights,  and 
who  once  used  to  hawk,  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  a 
broken  lot  of  his  fellow-countrymen  the  sprats? 
Begin,  Calliope !  let  us  take  our  seats.  This  is  no 
mere  fable,  but  a  true  tale  that  is  being  told  ;  tell  it 
forth,  ye  maidens  of  Pieria,  and  let  it  profit  me  that 
I  have  called  you  maids ! 

59 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    IV 

Cum  iam  semianimum  laceraret  Flavius  orbem 
ultimus  et  calvo  serviret  Roma  Neroni, 
incidit  Hadriaci  spatium  admirabile  rhombi 
ante  domum  Veneris,  quam  Dorica  sustinet  Ancon,  40 
implevitque  sinus  ;  nee  enim  minor  haeserat  illis 
quos  operit  glacies  Maeotica  ruptaque  tandem 
solibus  effundit  torrentis  ad  ostia  Ponti 
desidia  tardos  et  longo  frigore  pingues. 
destinat  hoc  monstrum  cumbae  linique  magister     45 
pontifici  summo.     quis  enim  proponere  talem 
aut  emere  auderet,  cum  plena  et  litora  multo 
delatore  forent  ?  dispersi  protinus  algae 
inquisitores  agerent  cum  remige  nudo 
non  dubitaturi  fugitivum  dicere  piscem  50 

depastumque  diu  vivaria  Caesaris,  inde 
elapsum  veterem  ad  dominum  debere  reverti. 
si  quid  Palfurio,  si  credimus  Armillato, 
quidquid  conspicuum  pulchrumque  est  aequore  toto, 
res  fisci  est,  ubicumque  natat.     donabitur  ergo,       55 
ne  pereat. 

Iam  letifero  cedente  pruinis 
autumno,  iam  quartanam  sperantibus  aegris 
stridebat  deformis  hiems  praedamque  recentem 
servabat.  tamen  hie  properat,  velut  urgueat  Auster. 
utque  lacus  suberant,  ubi  quamquam  diruta  servat  60 
ignem  Troianum  et  Vestam  colit  Alba  minorem, 
obstitit  intranti  miratrix  turba  parumper. 
ut  cessit,  facili  patuerunt  cardine  valvae  ; 

1  i.e.  the  emperor  Domitian. 

2  The  Pontifex  Maximus,  i.e.  Domitian  himself. 

3  These  were  two  lawyers. 

6o 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  IV 

37  What  time  the  last  of  the  Flavii  was  flaying  the 
half-dying  world,  and  Rome  was  enslaved  to  a  bald- 
headed  Nerpj1  there  fell  into  a  net  in  the  sea  of 
Hadria,  in  front  of  the  shrine  of  Venus  reared  high 
on  Dorian  Ancona^a  turbot  of  wondrous  "'^j  filling 
up  all  its  meshes, — a  fish  no  less  huge  than  those 
which  the  lake  Maeotis  conceals  beneath  the  ice  till 
it  is  broken  up  by  the  sun,  and  then  sends  forth, 
torpid  through  sloth  and  fattened  by  long  cold,  to 
the  mouths  of  the  Pontic  sea.  This  monster  the 
master  of  the  boat  and  line  designs  for  the  High 

Pontiff2  ;   for  who  wonlrl  rlqre  to  put  up  fnr  rnln  ny  fr, 

buy  so  big  a  fish  in  days  when  even  the  sea  shores 
w-ere  crowded  with  informers  ?  The  inspectors  of 
sea-weed  would  straightway  have  taken  the  law  of 
the  poor  fisherman,  ready  to  affirm  that  the  fish  was 
a  run-away  that  had  long  feasted  in  Caesar's  fish- 
ponds ;  escaped  from  thence,  he  must  needs  be 
restored  to  his  former  master.  For  if  Palfurius  3  is  to 
be  believed,  or  Armillatus,3  every  rare  and  beautiful 
thing  in  the  wide  ocean,  in  whatever  sea  it  swims, 
belongs  to  the  Imperial  Treasury.  The  fish  there- 
fore, that  it  be  not  wasted,  shall  be.  given  ana  gift 

56  And  now  death-bearing  Autumn  was  giving  way 
before  the  frosts,  fevered  patients  were  hoping  for  a 
quartan,4  and  bleak  winter's  blasts  were  keeping  the 
booty  fresh ;  yet  on  sped  the  fisherman  as  though 
the  South  wind  were  at  his  heels.  And  when  be- 
neath him  lay  the  lake  where  Alba,  though  in  ruins, 
still  holds  the  Trojan  fire  and  worships  the  lesser 
Vesta,5  a  wondering  crowd  barred  his  way  for  a  while  ; 
as   it   gave    way,   the    gates   swung   open    on    easy 

4  i.e.  a  fever  recurring  every  fourth  day — an  improvement 
upon  a  "  tertian,"  one  recurring  every  third  day. 
6  i.e.  as  compared  with  the  larger  temple  of  Vesta  in  Rome. 

6i 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    IV 

exclusi  spectant  admissa  obsonia  patres. 

itur  ad  Atriden.     turn  Picens  "accipe,"  dixit,  65 

"  privatis  maiora  focis.     genialis  agatur 

iste  dies,  propera  stomachum  laxare  sagina,1 

et  tua  servatum  consume  in  saecula  rhombum. 

ipse  capi  voluit."     quid  apertius  ?  et  tamen  illi 

surgebant  cristae  ;  nihil  est  quod  credere  de  se       70 

non  possit  cum  laudatur  dis  aequa  potestas. 

sed  derat  pisci  patinae  mensura.     vocantur 

ergo  in  consilium  proceres,  quos  oderat  ille, 

in  quorum  facie  miserae  magnaeque  sedebat 

pallor  amicitiae.     primus  clamante  Liburno  75 

"  currite,  iam  sedit  "  rapta  properabat  abolla 

Pegasus,  attonitae  positus  modo  vilicus  urbi. 

anne  aliud  turn  praefecti  ?  quorum  optimus  atque 

interpres  legum  sanctissimus  omnia,  quamquam  2 

temporibus  diris,  tractanda  putabat  inermi  80 

iustitia.     venit  et  Crispi  iucunda  senectus, 

cuius  erant  mores  qualis  facundia,  mite 

ingenium.     maria  ac  terras  populosque  regenti 

quis  comes  utilior,  si  clade  et  peste  sub  ilia 

saevitiam  damnare  et  honestum  adferre  liceret        85 

consilium  ?  sed  quid  violentius  aure  tyranni, 

cum  quo  de  pluviis  aut  aestibus  aut  nimboso 

vere  locuturi  fatum  pendebat  amici  ? 

ilia  igitur  numquam  derexit  bracehia  contra 

torrentem,  nee  civis  erat  qui  libera  posset  90 

1  saginam  PS  :  saginis  i|>  Vind. 

2  quamquam  Vind.^  :  quamque  P. 

1  The  Praefectus  Urbi,  under  the  Emperors,  was  the  head 
magistrate  in  Rome,  and  exercised  many  important  functions. 

62 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   IV 

hinge,  and  the  excluded  Fathers  gazed  on  the  dish 
that  had  gained  an  entrance.  Admitted  to  the 
Presence,  "Receive,"  quoth  he  of  Picenum,  "a  fish 
too  big  for  a  private  kitchen.  Be  this  kept  as  a 
festive  day;  hasten  to  fill  out  thy  belly  with  good 
things,  andjdevour  a  turbot  that  has  been  preserved 
to  grace  thy  reign.  The  fish  himself  wanted  to  be 
^caught.  Could~Hattery~  be  more^grosjs  ?  Ypt  thi 
Monai-ch's  comb  began  to  rise :  there  is  nothing  that 
(Byrne  Majesty  will  not  believe  concerning  itself" 
when  lauded  to  the  skiefl  !  Rut,  no-platter  cuulcHre 
ibund  big  enough  for  the  fish  ;  so  a  council  of  mag- 
nates is  summoned :  men  hated  by  the  Emperor, 
and  on  whose  faces  sat  the  pallor  of  that  great  and 
perilous  friendship.  First  to  answer  the  Ligurian's 
call  "Haste,  haste!  he  is  seated!"  was  J?egasus, 
hastily  catching  up  his  cloak — he  that  hadnewly 
been  appointed  as  bailiff  over  the  astonished  city. 
For  what  else  but  bailiffs  were  the  Prefects1  of 
those  days?  Of  whom  Pegasus  was  the  best,  and 
the  most  righteous  expounder  of  the  law,  though 
he  thought  that  even  in  those  dread  days  there 
should  be  no  sword  in  the  hand  of  Justice.  Next 
to  come  in  was  the  aged,  genial  Crispus.2  whose 
gentle  soul  well  matched  his  style  of  eloquence. 
No  better  adviser  than  he  for  the  ruler  of  lands 
and  seas  and  nations  had  he  been  free,  under  that 
scourge  and  plague,  to  denounce  cruelties  and  proffer 
honest  counsels.  Rm-  wW  <-an  i^>  mnrp  danorprrmc 
than  the  ear  of  a  tyrant  on  whose  caprice  hangs  the  _ 
hfe  of  a  friend  who  has  come  to  talk  of  the  rain  or 
l;he  heat  or  the  showery  spring  weather  ?  Ho  Crispus 
jtever  struck  uul  agamsL  the  torrent,  nor"was  he  one 

2  Vibius  Crispus ;  see  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  10. 

63 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   IV 

verba  animi  proferre  et  vitam  inpendere  vero. 
sic  multas  hiemes  atque  octogensima  vidit 
solstitia,  his  armis  ilia  quoque  tutus  in  aula. 

Proximus  eiusdem  properabat  Acilius  aevi 
cum  iuvene  indigno  quern  mors  tarn  saeva  maneret  95 
et  domini  gladiis  tain  festinata ;  sed  olim 
prodigio  par  est  in  nobilitate  senectus, 
unde  fit  ut  malim  fraterculus  esse  gigantis. 
profuit  ergo  nihil  misero,  quod  comminus  ursos 
figebat  Numidas  Albana  nudus  harena  100 

venator.     quis  enim  iam  non  intellegat  artes 
patricias  ?     quis  priscum  illud  miratur  acumen, 
Brute,  tuum  ?  facile  est  barbato  inponere  regi. 

Nee  melior  vultu  quamvis  ignobilis  ibat 
Rubrius,  ofFensae  veteris  reus  atque  tacendae,        105 
et  tamen  inprobior  saturam  scribente  cinaedo. 
Montani  quoque  venter  adest  abdomine  tardus, 
et  matutino  sudans  Crispinus  amomo 
quantum  vix  redolent  duo  funera,  saevior  illo 
Pompeius  tenui  iugulos  aperire  susurro,  110 

et  qui  vulturibus  servabat  viscera  Dacis 
Fuscus  marmorea  meditatus  proelia  villa, 
et  cum  mortifero  prudens  Veiento  Catullo, 
qui  numquam  visae  flagrabat  amore  puellae, 

1  Acilius  Glabrio  the  younger  was  exiled,  and  afterwards 
put  to  death  by  Domitian. 

2  i.e.  "son  of  a  clod."    Giants  were  supposed  to  be  sprung 
from  earth  {yriy(Vf7^). 

5  Brutus  feigned  madness  to  elude  the  suspicion  of  Tarquin. 
A  simple  "bearded  "  monarch  was  easily  imposed  upon. 
4  Evidently  an  informer. 

64 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   IV 

-to^eaj^freely  the  thoughts  of  his  heart,  and  stake 

JlisJife~upon  the  truth.    Thus  was  it  that  he  lived 

througFmany  winters' and  saw  his  eightieth  solstice, 

protected,  even  in  that  Court,  by  weapons  such  as 

these. 

H  Next  to  him  hurried  _Acilius,  of  like  age  as 
himself,  and  with  him  the  youth1  who  little  merited 
the  cruel  death  that  was  so  soon  hurried  on  by  his 
master's  sword,  Butj^eWlU^ing  rmd  noble  hie 
Igng_since  becomeaprodigy";  hence  I  would  rather 
Ug^a  giant's  *  little  brotner.  Therefore  it  availed  the 
poorybuth  nothing  that  he  speared  Numidian  bears, 
stripped  as  a  huntsman  upon  the  Alban  arena.  For 
who  nowadays  would  not  see  through  patrician  tricks  ? 
Who  would  now  marvel,  Brutus,  at  that  old-world 
cleverness  of  yours  ?  3  'Tis  an  easy  matter  to  befool 
a  king  that  wears  a  beard. 

104  No  more  cheerful  in  face,  though  of  ignoble 
blood,  came  Rubrius.  condemned  long  sinrp  r>f  a.. 
jrime  that  may  not,  be  nimedj  and  yet  more  shame- 
less than  a  reprobate  who  shnnH  write  ^"T  There 
too  was  present  the  unwieldy  frame  of  tyLojaianus ; 
and  Crispinus.,  reeking  at  early  dawn  with  odours 
enough  to  out-scent  two  funerals  ;  more  ruthless 
than  he  Pompeius,4  whose  gentle  whisper  would  cut 
men's  throats ;  and  Fuscus,5  who  planned  battles  in 
his  marble  halls,  keeping  his  flesh  for  the  Dacian 
vultures.  Then  along  with  the  sage  Veiento  jCame 
the  death-dealing  Catullus,6  who  burnt  with  love  for 
a  maiden  whom  he  had  never  seen — a  mighty  and 

5  Cornelius  Fuscus,  prefect  of  the  Praetorian  Guard.      He 
was  killed  in  Domitian's  Dacian  wars,  a.d.  8G-88. 

6  Fabricius  Veiento  and   Catullus  Messalinus*   informers 
under  Domitian. 

65 


1VVENALIS    SATVRA    IV 

grande   et  conspicuum    nostro   quoque    tempore 

monstrum,  115 

caecus  adulator,  dirusque  a  ponte  satelles 
dignus  Aricinos  qui  mendicaret  ad  axes 
blandaque  devexae  iactaret  basia  raedae. 
nemo  magis  rhombum  stupuit ;  nam  plurima  dixit 
in  laevum  conversus,  at  illi  dextra  iacebat  120 

belua.     sic  pugnas  Cilicis  laudabat  et  ictus 
et  pegma  et  pueros  inde  ad  velaria  i-aptos. 

Non  cedit  Veiento,  set  ut  fanaticus  oestro 
percussus,  Bellona,  tuo  divinat  et  "  ingens 
omen  habes,"  inquit,  "magni  clarique  triumphi.    125 
regem  aliquem  capies,  aut  de  temone  Britanno 
excidet  Arviragus.     peregrina  est  belua,  cernis 
erectas  in l  terga  sudes  ?  "     hoc  defuit  unum 
Fabricio,  patriam  ut  rhombi  memoraret  et  annos. 

"  Quidnam  igitur  censes  ?  conciditur  ?  "  "  absit 
ab  illo  130 

dedecus  hoc,"  Montanus  ait,  "  testa  alta  paretur, 
quae  tenui  muro  spatiosum  colligat  orbem. 
debetur  magnus  patinae  subitusque  Prometheus, 
argillam  atque  rotam  citius  properate  ;  sed  ex  hoc 
tempore  iam,  Caesar,  figuli  tua  castra  sequantur."   135 
vicit  digna  viro  sententia.     noverat  ille 
luxuriam  inperii  veterem  noctesque  Neronis 
iam  medias  aliamque  famem,  cum  pulmo  Falerno 
arderet.     nulli  maior  fuit  usus  edendi 
tempestate  mea  ;  Circeis  nata  forent  an  140 

1  Housm.  conj.  per  for  in. 
66 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   IV 

notable  marvel  even  in  these  days  of  ours:  a  blind 
flatterer,  a  dire  courtier  from  a  beggar's  stand,  well 
fitted  to  beg  at  the  wheels  of  chariots  and  blow  soft 
kisses  to  them  as  they  rolled  down  the  Arician  hill. 
None  marvelled  more  at  the  fish  than  he,  turning  to 
the  left  as  he  spoke ;  only,  the  creature  happened  to 
be  on  his  right.  In  like  fashion  would  he  commend 
the  thrusts  of  a  Cilician  gladiator,  or  the  machine 
which  whisks  up  the  boys  into  the  awning. 

123  But  Veiento  was  not  to  be  outdone ;  and  like 
a  seer  inspired,  O  Bellona,  by  thine  own  gadfly,  he 
bursts  into  prophecy :  "A  mighty  presage  hast  thou, 
O  Emperor!  of  a  great  and  glorious  victory.  Some 
King  will  be  thy  captive;  or  Arviragus  *  will  be 
hurled  from  his  British  chariot.  The  brute  is  foreio-n- 
born :  dost  thou  not  see  the  prickles  bristling  upon 
his  back  ?  "     Nothing  remained  for  Fabricius  but  to 

tell  the  turbot'sage~aTTd-bii-thijhiLL': 

130  "  What  thenllo  you  adviie  ? "  quoth  the  Em- 
peror. "  Shall  we  cut  it  up  ?  "  «  Nay,  nay,"  rejoins 
Montanus  ;  "let  that  indignity  be  spared  him.  Let 
a  deep  vessel  be  provided  to  gather  his  huge  dimen- 
sions within  its  slender  walls ;  some  great  and  un- 
foreseen Prometheus  is  destined  for  the  dish  !  Haste 
haste,  with  clay  and  wheel !  but  from  this  day  forth' 
O  Caesar,  let  potters  always  attend  upon  thy  camp  '  " 
Tju^jiroposal,  so  worthy  of  the  man,  gained  the 
°;iy-  vVeTT  known  t0  him  were  the  old  debauches 
Df  Llie  Impenal  uourl,  which  NeFo  carried  on  to 
midnight  ffity  mund  hunger  came  and  veins  were 

healed   witfr-htHy-^d-Cl'lliail.       No  one  in  my  timp  l>nr ~ 

nTore  sjgftt-trrthe  eating  art  than  hP       Hp^,H  \r]] 

at  the  first  bite  whether  an  oyster  had  been  bred 

1  A  British  prince,  as  in  Cymhdine. 

n         67 

F    2 


IVVENALIS  SATVRA   V 

Lucrinum  ad  saxum  Rutupinove  edita  fundo 
ostrea  callebat  primo  deprendere  morsu, 
et  semel  aspecti  litus  dicebat  echini. 

Surgitur  et  misso  proceres  exire  iubentur 
consilio,  quos  Albanam  dux  magnus  in  arcem         145 
traxerat  attonitos  et  festinare  coactos 
tamquam  de  Chattis  aliquid  torvisque  Sycambris 
dicturus,  tamquam  ex  diversis  pai-tibus  orbis 
anxia  praecipiti  venisset  epistula  pinna. 

Atque  utinam  his  potius   nugis    tota   ilia  de- 
disset  150 

tempora  saevitiae,  claras  quibus  abstulit  urbi 
inlustresque  animas  impune  et  vindice  nullo. 
sed  periit  postquam  cerdonibus  esse  timendus 
coeperat ;  hoc  nocuit  Lamiarum  caede  madenti. 


SATVRA  V 

Si  te  propositi  nondum  pudet  atque  eadem  est 
mens, 
ut  bona  summa  putes  aliena  vivere  quadra  ; 
si  potes  ilia  pati  quae  nee  Sarmentus  iniquas 
Caesaris  ad  mensas  nee  vilis  Gabba  tulisset, 
quamvis  iurato  metuam  tibi  credere  testi. 
ventre  nihil  novi  frugalius ;  hoc  tamen  ipsum 


1  Riehborough. 

2  The  Chatti  and  the   Sycambri    were   two   of   the   most 
powerful  German  tribes,  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Weser. 

3  Taken  as  a  type  of  the  ancient  noble  families  of  Rome. 

68 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE    V 

at  Circeii,  or  on  the  Lucrine  rocks,  or  on  the  beds  of 
Rutupiae;1  one  glance  would  tell  him  the  native 
shore  of  a  sea-urchin. 

144  The  Council  rises,  and  the  councillors  are  dis- 
missed :  men  whom  the  mighty  Emperor  had  dragged 
in  terror  and  hot  haste  to  his  Alban  castle,  as  though 
to  give  them  news  of  the  Chatti,  or  the  savage 
Sycambri,2  or  as  though  an  alarming  despatch  had 
arrived  on  wings  of  speed  from  some  remote  quarter 
of  the  earth. 

150  And  yet  would  that  he  had  rather  given  to  follies 
such  as  these  all  those  days  of  cruelty  when  he 
robbed  the  city  of  its  noblest  and  choicest  souls,  with 
none  to  punish  or  avenge  !  He  could  steep  himself  in 
the  blood  of  the  Lamiae  ;  3_hut  when  nnophpW^ 
ajterror  to  the  common  herd  he  met  his  doom.4 


SATIRE   V 

How  Clients  are  Entertained 

If  you  are  still  unashamed  of  your  plan  of  life,  and 
still  deem  it  to  be  the  highest  bliss  to  live  at  another 
man's  board— if  you  can  brook  indignities  which 
neither  Sarmentus  nor  the  despicable  Gabba5  would 
have  endured  at  Caesar's  ill-assorted  table— I  should 
refuse  to  believe  your  testimony,  even  upon  oath.  I 
know  of  nothing  so  easily  satisfied  as  the  belly ;  but 
even  granted  that  you  have  nothing  wherewith  to 

*  Domitian  was  murdered,  as  the  outcome  of  a  conspiracy 
by  the  hand  of  a  freedman,  Stephanus,  on  September  18 
A.  D.  yo.  ' 

6  Sarmentus  and  Gabba  are  representatives  of  the  lowesl 
parasite  class. 

69 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   V 

defecisse  puta,  quod  inani  sufficit  alvo  : 

nulla  crepido  vacat  ?  nusquam  pons  et  tegetis  pars 

dimidia  brevior  ?  tantine  iniuria  cenae, 

tam  ieiuna  fames,  cum  possit  honestius  illic  10 

et  tremere  et  sordes  farris  mordere  canini  ? 

Primo  fige  loco,  quod  tu  discumbere  iussus 
mercedem  solidam  veterum  capis  officiorum. 
fructus  amicitiae  magnae  cibus  ;  inputat  hunc  rex, 
et  quamvis  rarum  tamen  inputat.     ergo  duos  post  15 
si  libuit  menses  neglectum  adhibere  clientem, 
tertia  ne  vacuo  cessaret  culcita  lecto,, 
"una  simus/'  ait.     votorum  summa  !  quid  ultra 
quaeris?    habet  Trebius  propter    quod    rumpere 

somnum 
debeat  et  ligulas  dimittere,  sollicitus  ne  20 

tota  salutatrix  iam  turba  peregerit  orbem, 
sideribus  dubiis  aut  illo  tempore  quo  se 
frigida  circumagunt  pigri  serraca  Bootae. 

Qualis  cena  tamen  !     vinum  quod  sucida  nolit 
lana  pati :  de  conviva  Corybanta  videbis.  25 

iurgia  proludunt,  sed  mox  et  pocula  torques 
saucius  et  rubra  deterges  vulnera  mappa, 
inter  vos  quotiens  libertorumque  cohortem 
pugna  Saguntina  fervet  commissa  lagona. 

1  i.e.  the  least  honourable  place  on  the  least  honourable  of 
the  three  couches  of  the  triclinium. 

2  The  name  of  the  client  whom  he  is  addressing. 

7o 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   V 

fill  its  emptiness,  is  there  no  quay  vacant,  no  bridge  ? 
Can  you  find  no  fraction  of  a  beggar's  mat  to  stand 
upon  ?  Is  a  dinner  worth  all  the  insults  with  which 
you  have  to  pay  for  it  ?  Is  your  hunger  so  im- 
portunate, when  it  might,  with  greater  dignity,  be 
shivering  where  you  are,  and  munching  dirty  scraps 
of  dog's  bread  ? 

12  First  of  all  be  sure  of  this — that  when  bidden  to 
dinner,  you  receive  payment  in  full  for  all  your  past 
services.  A  meal  is  the  return  which  your  grand 
friendship  yields  you  ;  the  great  man  scores  it  against 
you,  and  though  it  come  but  seldom,  he  scores  it 
against  you  all  the  same.  So  if  after  a  couple  of 
months  it  is  his  pleasure  to  invite  his  forgotten 
client,  lest  the  third  place  on  the  lowest  couch1 
should  be  unoccupied,  and  he  says  to  you,  "  Come 
and  dine  with  me,"  you  are  in  the  seventh  Heaven ! 
what  more  can  you  desire  ?  Now  at  last  has  Trebius  2 
got  the  reward  for  which  he  must  needs  cut  short 
his  sleep,  and  hurry  with  shoe-strings  untied,  fearing 
that  the  whole  crowd  of  callers  may  already  have 
gone  their  rounds,  at  an  hour  when  the  stars  are 
fading  or  when  the  chilly  wain  of  Bootes  is  wheeling 
slowly  round. 

24  And  what  a  dinner  after  all !  You  are  given  wine 
that  fresh-clipped  wool  would  refuse  to  suck  up,3  and 
which  soon  converts  your  revellers  into  Cory  bants. 
Foul  words  are  the  prelude  to  the  fray  ;  but  before 
long  tankards  will  be  flying  about ;  a  battle  royal 
with  Saguntine  crockery  will  soon  be  raging  between 
you  and  the  company  of  freedmen,  and  you  will  be 
staunching  your  wounds  with  a  blood-stained  napkin. 

3  i.e.  the  wine  was  not  good  enough  to  be  used  even  for 
fomentations. 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    V 

ipse  capillato  diffusum  consule  potat,  30 

calcatamque  tenet  bellis  socialibus  uvam, 
cardiaco  numquam  cyathum  missurus  amico  ; 
eras  bibet  Albanis  aliquid  de  montibus  aut  de 
Setinis,  cuius  patriam  titulumque  seneetus 
delevit  multa  veteris  fuligine  testae,  35 

quale  coronati  Thrasea  Helvidiusque  bibebant 
Brutorum  et  Cassi  natalibus. 

Ipse  capaces 
Heliadum  crustas  et  inaequales  berullo 
Virro  tenet  phialas  :  tibi  non  committitur  aurum, 
vel  si  quando  datur,  custos  adfixus  ibidem,  40 

qui  nuineret  gemmas,  ungues  observet  acutos. 
da  veniam,  praeclara  illi  x  laudatur  iaspis  ; 
nam  Virro,  ut  multi,  gemmas  ad  pocula  transfert 
a  digitis,  quas  in  vaginae  fronte  solebat 
ponere  zelotypo  iuvenis  praelatus  Iarbae.  45 

tu  Beneventani  sutoris  nomen  habentem 
siccabis  ealicem  'nasorum  quattuor  ac  iam 
quassatum  et  rupto  poscentem  sulpura  vitro. 

Si  stomachus  domini  fervet  vinoque  ciboque, 
frigidior  Geticis  petitur  decocta  pruinis.  50 

non  eadem  vobis  poni  modo  vina  querebar : 
vos  aliam  potatis  aquam.     tibi  pocula  cursor 
Gaetulus  dabit  aut  nigri  manus  ossea  Mauri 
et  cui  per  mediam  nolis  occurrere  noctem, 
clivosae  veheris  dum  per  monumenta  Latinae :        55 

1  illic  \f*. 


1  The  Social  Wars,  after  which  the  Italians  gained  the 
Roman  franchise,  were  fought  between  B.C.  91  and  88. 

2  Two  famous  Stoics  whose  outspoken  freedom  cost  them 
their  lives  under  Nero  and  Vespasian  respectively. 

3  The  patron  who  gives  the  dinner. 

72 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   V 

The  great  man  himself  drinks  wine  bottled  in  the 
days  when  Consuls  wore  long  hair ;  the  juice  which 
he  holds  in  his  hand  was  squeezed  during  the  Social 
Wars/  but  never  a  glass  of  it  will  he  send  to  a  friend 
suffering  from  dyspepsia  !  To-morrow  he  will  drink 
a  vintage  from  the  hills  of  Alba  or  Setia  whose  date 
and  name  have  been  effaced  by  the  soot  which 
time  has  gathered  upon  the  aged  jar — such  wine  as 
Thrasea  2  and  Helvidius  2  used  to  drink  with  chaplets 
on  their  heads  upon  the  birthdays  of  Cassius  and  the 
Bruti. 

37  The  cup  in  Virro's  3  hands  is  richly  crusted  with 
amber  and  rough  with  beryl :  to  you  no  gold  is  en- 
trusted ;  or  if  it  is,  a  watcher  is  posted  over  it  to 
count  the  gems  and  keep  an  eye  on  your  sharp 
finger-nails.  Pardon  his  anxiety ;  that  fine  jasper  of 
his  is  much  admired  !  For  Virro,  like  so  many  others, 
transfers  from  his  fingers  to  his  cups  the  jewels  with 
which  the  youth  4  preferred  to  the  jealous  Iarbas  used 
to  adorn  his  scabbard.  To  you  will  be  given  a 
cracked  cup  with  four  nozzles  that  takes  its  name 
from  a  Beneventine  cobbler,5  and  calls  for  sulphur 
wherewith  to  repair  its  broken  glass. 

49  If  my  lord's  stomach  is  fevered  with  food  and 
wine,  a  decoction  colder  than  Thracian  hoar-frosts 
will  be  brought  to  him.  Did  I  complain  just  now 
that  you  were  given  a  different  wine?  Why,  the 
water  which  you  clients  drink  is  not  the  same.  It  will 
be  handed  to  you  by  a  Gaetulian  groom,  or  by  the  bony 
hand  of  a  blackamoor  whom  you  would  rather  not 
meet  at  midnight  when  driving  past  the  monuments 
on  the  hilly  Latin  Way.     Before  mine  host  stands  the 


4  Aeneas.     A  en.  iv.  36. 

5  Vatinius,  a  man  with  a  long  nose. 


73 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   V 

flos  Asiae  ante  ipsum,  pretio  maiore  paratus 
quam  fuit  et  Tulli  census  pugnacis  et  Anci 
et,  ne  te  teneam,  Romanorum  omnia  regum 
frivola.    quod  cum  ita  sit,  tu  Gaetulum  Ganymedem 
respice,  cum  sities.     nescit  tot  milibus  emptus         60 
pauperibus  miscere  puer ;  set  forma,  set  aetas 
digna  supercilio.     quando  ad  te  pervenit  ille  ? 
quando  rogatus  adest  calidae  gelidaeque  minister  ? 
quippe  indignatur  veteri  parere  clienti, 
quodque  aliquid  poscas  et  quod  se  stante  recumbas.  65 
[maxima  quaeque  domus  servis  est  plena  superbis.] 
ecce  alius  quanto  porrexit  murmure  panem 
vix  fractum,  solidae  iam  mucida  frusta  farinae, 
quae  genuinum  agitent,  non  admittentia  morsum  ; 
sed  tener  et  niveus  mollique  siligine  fictus  70 

servatur  domino,     dextram  coliibere  memento, 
salva  sit  artoptae  reverentia.     finge  tamen  te 
inprobulum,  superest  illic  qui  ponere  cogat : 
"  vis  tu  consuetis,  audax  conviva,  canistris 
impleri  panisque  tui  novisse  colorem  ?  "  75 

"  scilicet  hoc  fuerat,  propter  quod  saepe  relicta 
coniuge  per  montem  adversum  gelidasque  cucurri 
Esquilias,  fremeret  saeva  cum  grandine  vernus 
Iuppiter  et  multo  stillaret  paenula  nimbo." 

Aspice  quam  longo  distinguat J  pectore  lancem    80 
quae  fertur  domino  squilla,  et  quibus  undique  saepta 
asparagis  qua  despiciat  convivia  cauda, 

1  distinguat  P  Vind. :  diatendat  *//. 
74 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   V 

very  pink  of  Asia,  a  youth  bought  for  a  sum  bigger 
than  the  entire  fortune  of  the  warlike  Tullus  or 
Ancus,  more  valuable,  in  short,  than  all  the  chattels 
of  all  the  kings  of  Rome.  That  being  so,  when  you 
are  thirsty  look  to  your  swarthy  Ganymede.  The 
page  who  has  cost  so  many  thousands  cannot  mix  a 
drink  for  a  poor  man :  but  then  his  beauty,  his 
youth,  justify  his  disdain  !  When  will  he  get  as  far 
as  you  ?  When  does  he  listen  to  your  request  for 
water,  hot  or  cold  ?  It  is  beneath  him  to  attend  to 
an  old  dependent ;  he  is  indignant  that  you  should 
ask  for  anything,  and  that  you  should  be  seated 
while  he  stands.  All  your  great  houses  are  full  of 
saucy  slaves.  See  with  what  a  grumble  another  of 
them  has  handed  you  a  bit  of  hard  bread  that  you 
can  scarce  break  in  two,  or  lumps  of  dough  that 
have  turned  mouldy — stuff  that  will  exercise  your 
grinders  and  into  which  no  tooth  can  gain  admit- 
tance. For  Virro  himself  a  delicate  loaf  is  reserved, 
white  as  snow,  and  kneaded  of  the  finest  flour.  Be 
sure  to  keep  your  hands  off  it :  take  no  liberties  with 
the  bread-basket !  If  you  are  presumptuous  enough 
to  take  a  piece,  there  will  be  someone  to  bid  you  put 
it  down  :  "  What,  Sir  Impudence  ?  Will  you  please 
fill  yourself  from  your  proper  tray,  and  learn  the 
colour  of  your  own  bread?"  "What?"  you  ask, 
"was  it  for  this  that  I  would  so  often  leave  my  wife's 
side  on  a  spring  morning  and  hurry  up  the  chilly 
Esquiline  when  the  spring  skies  were  rattling  down 
the  pitiless  hail,  and  the  rain  was  pouring  in  streams 
off  my  cloak  ?  " 

80  See  now  that  huge  lobster  being  served  to  my 
lord,  all  garnished  with  asparagus  ;  see  how  his  lordly 
breast  distinguishes  the  dish;  with  what  a  tail  he 

75 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  V 

dum  venit  excelsi  manibus  sublata  ministri. 

set  tibi  dimidio  constrictus  cammarus  ovo 

ponitur  exigua  feralis  cena  patella.  85 

ipse  Venafrano  piscem  perfundit :  at  hie  qui 

pallidus  adfertur  misero  tibi  caulis  olebit 

lanternam ;  illud  enim  vestris  datur  alveolis  quod 

canna  Micipsarum  prora  subvexit  acuta, 

propter  quod  Romae  cum  Boccare  nemo  lavatur,     90 

quod  tutos  etiam  facit  a  serpentibus  atris.1 

Mullus  erit  domini,  quern  misit  Corsica  vel  quem 
Tauromenitanae  rupes,  quando  omne  peractum  est 
et  iam  defecit  nostrum  mare,  dum  gula  saevit, 
retibus  adsiduis  penitus  scrutante  macello  95 

proxima,  nee  patimur  Tyrrhenum  crescere  piscem. 
instruit  ergo  focum  provincia,  sumitur  illinc 
quod  captator  emat  Laenas,  Aurelia  vendat. 

Virroni  muraena  datur,  quae  maxima  venit 
gurgite  de  Siculo  ;  nam  dum  se  continet  Auster,     100 
dum  sedet  et  siccat  madidas  in  carcere  pinnas, 
contemnunt  mediam  temeraria  lina  Charybdim. 
vos  anguilla  manet  longae  cognata  colubrae, 
aut  glacie  aspersus  maculis  Tiberinus,  et  ipse 
vernula  l'iparum,  pinguis  torrente  cloaca  105 

et  solitus  mediae  cryptam  penetrare  Suburae. 

Ipsi  pauca  velim,  facilem  si  pi\aebeat  aurem. 
"  nemo  petit,  modicis  quae  mittebantur  amicis 

1  This  line  and  vi.  126  are  the  only  two  lines  omitted  by  P 
(excepting,  of  course,  vi.  0  1-34). 

1  Tauromenium,  on  the  E.  coast  of  Sicily. 

2  Juvenal  and  other  Roman  writers  are  full  of  allusions  to 
captalores,    legacy-hunters,    who  showered  presents   of  all 

76 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   V 

looks  down  upon  the  company,  borne  aloft  in  the 
hands  of  that  tall  attendant !  Before  you  is  placed 
on  a  tiny  plate  a  crab  hemmed  in  by  half  an  egg — a 
fit  banquet  for  the  dead.  The  host  souses  his  fish  in 
Venafran  oil ;  the  sickly  greens  offered  to  you,  poor 
devil,  will  smell  of  the  lamp  ;  for  the  stuff  contained 
in  your  cruets  was  brought  up  the  Tiber  in  a  sharp- 
prowed  Numidian  canoe — stuff  which  prevents 
anyone  at  Rome  sharing  a  bath  with  Bocchar,  and 
which  will  even  protect  you  from  a  black  serpent's 
bite. 

92  My  lord  will  have  a  mullet  dispatched  from 
Corsica  or  the  Rocks  of  Tauromenium : l  for  in  the 
rage  for  gluttony  our  own  seas  have  given  out;  the 
nets  of  the  fish-market  are  for  ever  raking  our  home 
waters,  and  prevent  Tyrrhenian  fish  from  attaining 
their  full  size.  And  so  the  Provinces  supply  our 
kitchens;  from  the  Provinces  come  the  fish  for  the 
legacy-hunter  Laenas  to  buy,  and  for  Aurelia  to  send 
to  market.2 

99  Virro  is  served  with  a  lamprey,  the  finest  that 
the  Straits  of  Sicily  can  purvey ;  for  so  long  as  the 
South  wind  stays  at  home,  and  sits  in  his  prison- 
house  drying  his  dank  wings,  Charybdis  has  no  terrors 
for  the  daring  fisherman.  For  you  is  reserved  an 
eel,  first  cousin  to  a  water-snake,  or  perchance  a  pike 
mottled  with  ice-spots ;  he  too  was  bred  on  Tiber's 
banks  and  was  wont  to  find  his  way  into  the  inmost 
recesses  of  the  Subura,  battening  himself  amid  its 
flowing  sewers. 

107  And  now  one  word  with  the  great  man  himself, 
if  he  will  lend  his  ear.     «  No  one  asks  of  you  such 

kinds  upon  rich  and  childless  old  men  or  women.     Aurelia 
sells  the  fish  she  has  received  as  a  present  from  Laenas. 

77 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    V 

a  Seneca,  quae  Piso  bonus,  quae  Cotta  solebat 
largiri  ;  namque  et  titulis  et  fascibus  olim  110 

maior  habebatur  donandi  gloria,     solum 
poscimus  ut  cenes  civiliter.     hoc  face  et  esto, 
estOj  ut  nunc  multi,  dives  tibi,  pauper  amicis." 

Anseris  ante  ipsum  magni  iecuv,  anseribus  par 
altilis,  et  flavi  dignus  ferro  Meleagri  115 

spumat l  aper.    post  hunc  tradentur  tubera,  si  ver 
tunc  erit  et  facient  optata  tonitrua  cenas 
maiores.  "  tibi  babe  frumentum,"  Alledius  inquit, 
"o  Libye,  disiunge  boves,  dum  tubera  mittas." 

Structorem  interea,  nequa  indignatio  desit,        120 
saltantem  spectes  et  chironomunta  volanti 
cultello,  donee  peragat  dictata  magistri 
omnia  ;  nee  minimo  sane  discrimine  refert, 
quo  gestu  lepores  et  quo  gallina  secetur. 
duceris  planta  velut  ictus  ab  Hercule  Cacus  125 

et  ponere  foris,  si  quid  temptaveris  umquam 
hiscere,  tamquam  habeas    tria    nomina.     quando 

propinat 
Virro  tibi,  sumitve  tuis  contacta  labellis 
pocula  ?  quis  vestrum  temerarius  usque  adeo,  quis 
perditus,  ut  dicat  regi  "  bibe  "  ?  plurima  sunt  quae  130 
non  audent  homines  pertusa  dicere  laena. 
quadringenta  tibi  si  quis  deus  aut  similis  dis 

1  spumat  PSA  :  fumat  \p. 


1  The  word  civiliter,  from  which  our  word  "civil"  comes, 
meant  "  as  a  citizen  and  an  equal." 

2  The  Aetolian  hero  who  slew  the  Calydonian  boar. 

3  Thunder  was  supposed  to  be  favourable  to  the  growth  of 
truffles. 

78 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   V 

Jordly  gifts  as  Seneca,  or  the  good  Piso  or  Cotta, 
used  to  send  to  their  humble  friends  :  for  in  the  days 
of  old,  the  glory  of  giving  was  deemed  grander  than 
titles  or  fasces.  All  we  ask  of  you  is  that  you  should 
dine  with  us  as  a  fellow-citizen  *  :  do  this  and  remain, 
like  so  many  others  nowadays,  rich  for  yourself  and 
poor  to  your  friends." 

114  Before  Virro  is  put  a  huge  goose's  liver;  a 
capon  as  big  as  a  goose,  and  a  boar,  piping  hot. 
worthy  of  yellow-haired  Meleager's 2  steel.  Then 
will  come  truffles,  if  it  be  spring-time  and  the  longed- 
for  thunder  have  enlarged  our  dinners.3  "  Keep  your 
corn  to  yourself,  O  Libya  !  "  says  Alledius  ;  "  unyoke 
your  oxen,  if  only  you  send  us  truffles  !  " 

120  During  all  this  time,  lest  any  occasion  for  disgust 
should  be  wanting,  you  may  behold  the  carver  caper- 
ing and  gesticulating  with  knife  in  air,  and  carrying 
out  all  the  instructions  of  his  preceptor  :  for  it  makes 
a  mighty  difference  with  what  gestures  a  hare  or  a 
hen  be  carved  !  If  you  ever  dare  to  utter  one  word  as 
though  you  were  possessed  of  three  names,4  you  will 
be  dragged  by  the  heels  and  thrust  out  of  doors  as 
Cacus  was,  after  the  drubbing  he  got  from  Hercules. 
When  will  Virro  offer  to  drink  wine  with  you?  or 
take  a  cup  that  has  been  polluted  by  your  lips? 
Which  one  of  you  would  be  so  foolhardy,  so  lost  to 
shame,  as  to  say  to  your  patron  "  A  glass  with  you, 
Sir  "  ?  No,  no  :  there's  many  a  thing  which  a  man 
whose  coat  has  holes  in  it  cannot  say !  But  if  some 
God,  or  god-like  manikin  more  kindly  than  the  fates, 
should   present   you   with    four   hundred    thousand 

4  i.e.  as  if  you  were  a  free-born  Roman  with  the  three 
necessary  names— the  praenomen,  the  nomen,  and  the  cog- 
nomen. 

79 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    V 

et  melior  fatis  donaret  homuncio,  quantus, 

ex  nihilo,  quantus  fieres  Virronis  amicus  ! 

"da  Trebio,  pone  ad  Trebium.  vis,  frater,  ab  ipsis  135 

ilibus  ?  "  o  nummi,  vobis  liunc  praestat  honorem, 

vos  estis  fratres.    dominus  tamen  et  domini  rex 

si  vis  tu  fieri,  null  us  tibi  parvolus  aula 

luserit  Aeneas  nee  filia  dulcior  illo  ; 

iucundum  et  carum  sterilis  facit  uxor  amicum.       140 

sed  tua  nunc  Mycale  pariat  licet  et  pueros  tres 

in  gremium  patris  fundat  semel,  ipse  loquaci 

gaudebit  nido,  viridem  tlioraca  iubebit 

adferri  minimasque  nuces  assemque  rogatum, 

ad  mensam  quotiens  parasitus  venerit  infans.  145 

Vilibus  ancipites  fungi  ponentur  amicis, 
boletus  domino,  set  quales  Claudius  edit 
ante  ilium  uxoris,  post  quern  nihil  amplius  edit. 
Virro  sibi  et  reliquis  Virronibus  ilia  iubebit 
poma  dari,  quorum  solo  pascaris  odore,  150 

qualia  perpetuus  Phaeacum  autumnus  habebat, 
credere  quae  possis  subrepta  sororibus  Afris  : 
tu  scabie  frueris  mali,  quod  in  aggere  rodit 
qui  tegitur  parma  et  galea,  metuensque  flagelli 
discit  ab  hirsuta  iaculum  torquere  capella.  155 

Forsitan  inpensae  Virronem  parcere  credas. 
hoc  agit  ut  doleas  ;  nam  quae  comoedia,  mimus 
quis  melior  plorante  gula  ?     ergo  omnia  fiunt, 

1  i  e.  the  fortune  of  an  eques.     See  note  on  iii.  154-5. 

2  It  was  the  childless  that  were  courted  for  their  money. 

3  Agrippina  the  younger.     She  poisoned  her  husband,  the 
emperor,  with  a  mushroom.  *  The  Hesperides. 

80 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   V 

sesterces,1  O  how  great  a  personage  would  you  be- 
come, from  being  a  nobody;  how  dear  a  friend  to 
Virro  !  "  Pray  help  Trebius  to*  this  !  "  "  Let  Trebius 
have  some  of  that !  "  «  Would  you  like  a  cut  just  from 
the  loin,  good  brother  ?  "  O  money,  money  !  It  is  to 
you  that  he  pays  this  honour,  it  is  you  that  are  his 
brother  !  Nevertheless,  if  you  wish  to  be  yourself  a 
great  man,  and  a  great  man's  lord,  let  there  be  no 
little  Aeneas  playing  about  your  halls,  nor  yet  a 
little  daughter,  more  sweet  than  he ;  nothing  will  so 
endear  you  to  your  friend  as  a  barren  wife.2  But  as 
things  now  are,  though  your  Mycale  pour  into  your 
paternal  bosom  three  boys  at  a  birth,  Virro  will  be 
charmed  with  the  chattering  brood,  and  will  order 
little  green  jackets  to  be  given  them,  and  little  nuts, 
and  pennies  too  if  they  be  asked  for,  when  the 
little  parasites  present  themselves  at  his  table. 

146  Before  the  guests  will  be  placed  toadstools  of 
doubtful  quality,  before  my  lord  a  noble  mushroom, 
such  a  one  as  Claudius  ate  before  that  mushroom  of  his 
wife's  3 — after  which  he  ate  nothing  more.  To  him- 
self and  the  rest  of  the  Virros  he  will  order  apples 

to  be  served  whose  scent  alone  would  be  a  feast 

apples  such  as  grew  in  the  never-failing  Autumn  of 
the  Phaeacians,  and  which  you  might  believe  to 
have  been  niched  from  the  African  sisters ; 4  you  are 
treated  to  a  rotten  apple  like  those  munched  on  the 
ramparts  by  a  monkey  equipped  with  spear  and 
shield  who  learns,  in  terror  of  the  whip,  to  hurl  a 
javelin  from  the  back  of  a  shaggy  goat. 

156  You  may  perhaps  suppose  that  Virro  grudges 
the  expense ;  not  a  bit  of  it !  His  object  is  to  give 
you  pain.  For  what  comedy,  what  mime,  is  so 
amusing  as  a  disappointed  belly?     His  one  object, 

81 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  VI 

si  nescis,  ut  per  lacrimas  effundere  bilem 

cogaris  pressoque  diu«tridere  molari.  160 

tu  tibi  liber  homo  et  regis  conviva  videris  : 

captum  te  nidore  suae  putat  ille  culinae ; 

nee  male  coniectat :  quis  enim  tarn  nudus,  ut  ilium 

bis  ferat,  Etruscum  puero  si  contigit  aurum 

vel  nodus  tantum  et  signum  de  paupere  loro  ?       165 

spes  bene  cenandi  vos  decipit :  "  ecce  dabit  iam 

semesum  leporem  atque  aliquid  de  clunibus  apri, 

ad  nos  iam  veniet  minor  altilis."     inde  parato 

intactoque  omnes  et  stricto  pane  tacetis. 

ille  sapit  qui  te  sic  utitur.     omnia  ferre  170 

si  potes,  et  debes.     pulsandum  vertice  raso 

praebebis  quandoque  caput,  nee  dura  timebis 

flagra  pati,  his  epulis  et  tali  dignus  amico. 


SATVRA  VI 

Credo  Pudicitiam  Saturno  rege  moratam 
in  terris  visamque  diu,  cum  frigida  parvas 
praeberet  spelunca  domos  ignemque  Laremque 
et  pecus  et  dominos  communi  clauderet  umbra, 
silvestrem  montana  torum  cum  sterneret  uxor 
frondibus  et  culmo  vicinarumque  ferarum 


82 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

let  me  tell  you,  is  to  compel  you  to  pour  out  your 
wrath  in  tears,  and  to  keep  gnashing  your   molars 
against  each  other.     You  think  yourself  a  free  man, 
and  guest  of  a  grandee  ;  he  thinks— and  he  is  not  far 
wrong— that  you  have  been  captured  by  the  savoury 
odours  of  his  kitchen.     For  who  that  had  ever  worn 
the  Etruscan  bulla1  in  his  boyhood,— or  even  the 
poor   man's   leather   badge— could   tolerate    such   a 
patron  for  a  second  time,  however  destitute  he  might 
be  ?     It  is  the  hope  of  a  good  dinner  that  beguiles 
you  :  "Surely  he  will  give  us,"  you  say,  "what  is  left 
of  a  hare,  or  some  scraps  of  a  boar's   haunch ;  the 
remains  of  a  capon  will  come  our  way  by  and  by." 
And    so   you   all    sit   in   dumb  silence,  your  bread 
clutched,  untasted,  and  ready  for  action.   In  treating 
you  thus,  the  great  man  shows  his  wisdom.     If  you 
can  endure  such    things,   you  deserve  them;  some 
day  you  will  be  offering  your  head  to  be  shaved  and 
slapped  :    nor  will  you  flinch  from  a  stroke  of  the 
whip,  well  worthy  of  such  a  feast  and  such  a  friend. 


SATIRE  VI 

The  Ways  of  Women 

In  the  days  of  Saturn,*  I  believe,  Chastity  still 
lingered  on  the  earth,  and  was  to  be  seen  for  a  time 
—days  when  men  were  poorly  housed  in  chilly  caves, 
when  one  common  shelter  enclosed  hearth  and  house- 
hold gods,  herds  and  their  owners  ;  when  the  hill-bred 
wife  spread  her  silvan  bed  with  leaves  and  straw  and 
the  skins  of  her  neighbours  the  wild  beasts— a  wife  not 
_ T  The  golden  bulla,  enclosing  a  charm,  was  the  sign  of  free 
birth  (ingenmtas).         *  i.e.  in  the  golden  days  of  innocence. 

G  2 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

pellibus,  haut  similis  tibi,  Cynthia,  nee  tibi,  cuius 

turbavit  nitidos  extinctus  passer  ocellos, 

sed  potanda  ferens  infantibus  ubera  magnis 

et  saepe  horridior  glandem  ructante  marito.  10 

quippe  aliter  tunc  orbe  novo  caeloque  recenti 

vivebant  homines,  qui  rupto  robore  nati 

compositive  luto  nullos  habuere  parentes. 

multa  Pudicitiae  veteris  vestigia  forsan 

autaliqua  exstiterint  et  sub  love,  set  love  nondum  15 

barbato,  nondum  Graecis  iurare  paratis 

per  caput  alterius,  cum  furem  nemo  timeret 

caulibus  et  pomis,  et  aperto  viveret  horto. 

paulatim  deinde  ad  superos  Astraea  recessit 

hac  comite,  atque  duae  pariter  fugere  sorores.  20 

Anticum  et  vetus  est  alienum,  Postume,  lectum 
concutere  atque  sacri  genium  contemnere  fulcri. 
omne  aliud  crimen  mox  ferrea  protulit  aetas  : 
viderunt  primos  argentea  saecula  moechos. 
conventum  tamen  et  pactum  et  sponsalia  nostra      25 
tempestate  paras,  iamque  a  tonsore  magistro 
pecteris,  et  digito  pignus  fortasse  dedisti. 
certe  sanus  eras ;  uxorem,  Postume,  ducis  ? 
die,  qua  Tisiphone,  quibus  exagitare  a  colubris  ? 
ferre  potes  dominam  salvis  tot  restibus  ullam,  30 

cum  pateant  altae  caligantesque  fenestrae, 

1  exagitare  Pi// :  exagitere  0. 


1  The  Cynthia  of  Propertius. 

2  The  Lesbia  of  Catullus. 

3  There  was  a  legend  that  men  had  been  born  from  oak- 
trees. 

*  Astraea,    daughter   of   Zeus   and    Themis,   was  the  last 

84 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

like  to  thee,  O  Cynthia,1  nor  to  thee,  Lesbia,2  whose 
bright  eyes  were  clouded  by  a  sparrow's  death,  but 
one  whose  breasts  gave  suck  to  lusty  babes,  often 
more    unkempt    herself   than    her    acorn-belching 
spouse.     For  in   those    days,  when  the    world  wa*s 
young,  and  the   skies  were  new,  men  born  of  the 
riven  oak,3  or  formed  of  dust,  lived  differently  from 
now,  and  had  no  parents  of  their  own.     Under  Jove, 
perchance,  some  few  traces  of  ancient  modesty  may 
have  survived ;   but  that  was  before  he  had  grown 
his  beard,  before  the  Greeks  had  learned  to  swear  by 
someone  else's  head,  when  men  feared  not  thieves 
for  their  cabbages  or  apples,  and  lived  with  unwalled 
gardens.     After  that  Astraea 4  withdrew  by  degrees 
to  heaven,  with  Chastity  as  her  comrade,  the5  two 
sisters  taking  flight  together. 

21  To  set  your  neighbour's  bed  a-shaking,  Postu- 
mus,  and  to  flout  the  Genius  of  the  sacred  couch,5  is 
now  an  ancient  and  long-established  practice.  All 
other  sins  came  later,  the  products  of  the  age  of  Iron  ; 
but  it  was  the  silver  age  that  saw  the  first  adulterers. 
Nevertheless,  in  these  days  of  ours,  you  are  pre- 
paring for  a  covenant,  a  marriage-contract  and  a 
betrothal ;  you  are  by  now  getting  your  hair  cut  by 
a  master  barber;  you  have  also  perhaps  given  a 
pledge  to  her  finger.  What!  Postumus,  are  you, 
you  who  once  had  your  wits,  taking  to  yourself  a 
wife?  Tell  me  what  Tisiphone,  what  snakes  are 
driving  you  mad  ?  Can  you  submit  to  a  she-tyrant 
when  there  is  so  much  rope  to  be  had,  so  many 
dizzy  heights  of  windows  standing  open,  and  when 

mortal  to  leave  the  earth  when  the  Golden  Age  came  to  an 
end  ;  she  was  placed  among  the  stars  as  Virgo. 

8  The  fulcrum  was  the  head  of  the  couch,  often  ornamented 
with  the  figure  of  the  Genius  in  bronze. 

85 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    VI 

cum  tibi  vicinum  se  praebeat  Aemilius  pons  ? 
aut  si  de  multis  nullus  placet  exitus,  illud 
nonne  putas  melius,  quod  tecum  pusio  dormit  ? 
pusio  qui  noctu  non  litigat,  exigit  a  te  35 

nulla  iacens  illic  munuscula  nee  queritur  quod 
et  lateri  parcas  nee  quantum  iussit  anheles. 

Sed  placet  Vrsidio  lex  Iulia,  tollere  dulcem 
cogitat  heredern,  cariturus  turture  magno 
mullorumque  iubis  et  captatore  macello.  40 

quid  fieri  non  posse  putes,  si  iungitur  ulla 
Vrsidio  ?  si  moechorum  notissimus  olim 
stulta  maritali  iam  porrigit  ora  capistro, 
quem  totiens  texit  perituri  cista  Latini  ? 
quid  quod  et  antiquis  uxor  de  moribus  illi  45 

quaeritur  ?   o  medicr,  nimiam  pertundite  venam. 
delicias  hominis  !     Tarpeium  limen  adora 
pronus  et  auratam  Iunoni  caede  iuvencam, 
si  tibi  contigerit  capitis  matrona  padici. 
paucae  adeo  Cereris  x  vittas  contingere  dignae,        50 
quarum  non  timeat  pater  oscula  :  necte  coronam 
postibus  et  densos  per  limina  tende  corymbos. 
unus  Hiberinae  vir  sufficit  ?  ocius  illud 
extorquebis,  ut  haec  oculo  contenta  sit  uno. 
magna  tamen  fama  est  cuiusdam  rure  paterno         55 
viventis  ?    vivat  Gabiis  ut  vixit  in  agro, 
vivat  Fidenis,  et  agello  cedo  paterno. 
quis  tamen  adfirmat  nil  actum  in  montibus  aut  in 
speluncis  ?  adeo  senuerunt  Iuppiter  et  Mars? 

1  Cereris  P<J/ :  Housm.  conj.  teretis. 


1  A  law  to  encourage  marriage. 
86 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

the  Aemilian  bridge  offers  itself  to  hand  ?  Or  if  none 
of  all  these  modes  of  exit  hit  your  fancy,  how  much 
better  to  take  some  boy-bedfellow,  who  would  never 
wrangle  with  you  o'  nights,  never  ask  presents  of  you 
when  in  bed,  and  never  complain  that  you  took  your 
ease  and  were  indifferent  to  his  solicitations  ! 

38  But  Ursidius  approves  of  the  Julian  Law.1      He 
purposes  to  bring  up  a  dear  little  heir,  though  he  will 
thereby  have    to   do  without  the   fine   turtles,   the 
bearded  mullets,  and  all  the   legacy-hunting   deli- 
cacies of  the  meat-market.     What  can   you   think 
impossible  if  Ursidius  takes  to  himself  a  wife  ?  if  he, 
who  has  long  been  the  most  notorious  of  gallants' 
who  has  so  often  found  safety  in  the  corn-bin  of  the 
luckless  Latinus,2  puts  his  head  into  the  connubial 
noose  ?     And  what  think  you  of  his  searching  for  a 
wife  of  the  good  old  virtuous  sort?     O  doctors,  lance 
his  over-blooded  veins.    A  pretty  fellow  you!    Why,  if 
you  have  the  good  luck  to  find  a  modest  spouse,  you 
should  prostrate  yourself  before  the  Tarpeian  thresh- 
old, and  sacrifice  a  heifer  with  gilded  horns  to  Juno; 
so  few  are  the  wives  worthy  to  handle  the  fillets  of 
Ceres,  or  from  whose  kisses  their  own  father  would 
not  shrink !     Weave  a  garland  for  thy  doorposts,  and 
set   up   wreaths  of  ivy  over   thy   lintel!     But  will 
Hiberina  be  satisfied  with  one  man  ?     Sooner  com- 
pel her  to  be  satisfied  with  one  eye  !     You  tell  me 
of  the  high  repute  of  some  maiden,  who  lives  on  her 
paternal  farm  :  well,  let  her  live  at  Gabii,  at  Fidenae, 
as  she  lived  in  her  own  country,  and  I  will  believe 
in  your  paternal  farm.      But  will  anyone  tell  me  that 
nothing  ever  took   place  on  a  mountain  side  or  in 
a  cave  ?     Have  Jupiter  and  Mars  become  so  senile  ? 
2  An  actor  who  played  the  part  of  a  lover  in  hiding. 

'   87 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

Porticibusne  tibi  monstratur  femina  voto  60 

digna  tuo  ?    cuneis  an  habent  spectacula  totis 
quod  securus  ames  quodque  inde  excerpere  possis  ? 
chironomon  Ledam  molli  saltante  Bathyllo 
Tuccia  vesicae  non  imperat,  Apula  gannit 
sicut  in  amplexu  subito  et  miserabile  longum  ;         65 
attendit  Thymele  :  Thymele  tunc  rustica  discit. 

Ast  aliae,  quotiens  aulaea  recondita  cessant 
et  vacuo  clusoque  sonant  fora  sola  theatro,       **'y  + 
atque  a  plebeis  longe  Megalesia,  tristes 
personam  thyrsumque  tenent  et  subligar  Acci.         70 
Vrbicus  exodio  visum  movet  Atellanae 
gestibus  Autonoes  ;  hunc  diligit  Aelia  pauper, 
solvitur  his  magno  comoedi  fibula,  sunt  quae 
Chrysogonum  cantare  vetent,  Hispulla  tragoedo 
gaudet :  an  expectas  ut  Quintilianus  ametur?         75 
accipis  uxorem  de  qua  citharoedus.  Echion 
aut  Glapbyrus  fiat  pater  Ambrosiusque  clioraules. 
longa  per  angustos  figamus  pulpita  vicos, 
ornentur  postes  et  grandi  ianua  lauro, 
ut  testudineo  tibi,  Lentule,  conopeo  80 

nobilis  Euryalum  aut  murmillonem  exprimat  infans. 

Nupta  senatori  comitata  est  Eppia  ludum 
ad  Pharon  et  Nilum  famosaque  moenia  Lagi, 

1  The  Megalesian  games  begaa  on  the  4th  of  April  and 
lasted  for  six  days ;  the  Plebeian  games  took  place  early  in 
November.  2  A  famous  singer. 

3  M.  Fabius  Quintilianus,  the  famous  Roman  rhetorician, 
a.d.  40-100.  No  grave  and  learned  man  like  Quintilian  will 
attract  them. 

*  The  conopeum  was  properly  a  mosquito-net ;  here  it 
seems  to  be  used  for  a  bassinette  or  cradle,         6  A  gladiator. 

88 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

60  Can  our  arcades  show  you  one  woman  worthy  of 
your  vows  ?  Do  all  the  tiers  in  all  our  theatres  hold 
one  whom  you  may  love  without  misgiving,  and 
pick  out  thence  ?  When  the  soft  Bathyllus  dances 
the  part  of  the  gesticulating  Leda,  Tuccia  cannot 
contain  herself;  your  Apulian  maiden  heaves  a 
sudden  and  longing  cry  of  ecstasy,  as  though  she 
were  in  a  man's  arms ;  the  rustic  Thymele  is  all 
attention,  it  is  then  that  she  learns  her  lesson. 

67  Others  again,  when  all  the  stage  draperies  have 
been  put  away  ;  when  the  theatres  are  closed,  and 
all  is  silent  save  in  the  courts,  and  the  Megalesian 
games  are  far  off  from  the  Plebeian,1  ease  their 
dullness  by  taking  to  the  mask,  the  thyrsus  and  the 
tights  of  Accius.  Urbicus,  in  an  Atellane  interlude, 
raises  a  laugh  by  the  gestures  of  Autonoe ;  the 
penniless  Aelia  is  in  love  with  him.  Other  women 
pay  great  prices  for  the  favours  of  a  comedian  ;  some 
will  not  allow  Chrysogonus  2  to  sing.  Hispulla  has  a 
fancy  for  tragedians  ;  but  do  you  suppose  that  any 
one  will  be  found  to  love  Quintilian  ?  3  If  you  marry 
a  wife,  it  will  be  that  the  lyrist  Echion  or  Glaphyrus, 
or  the  flute  player  Ambrosius,  may  become  a  father. 
Then  up  with  a  long  dais  in  the  narrow  street ! 
Adorn  your  doors  and  doorposts  with  wreaths  of 
laui-el,  that  your  highborn  son,  O  Lentulus,  may 
exhibit,  in  his  tortoiseshell  cradle,4  the  lineaments 
of  Euryalus  5  or  of  a  murmillo  ! 6 

82  When  Eppia,  the  senator's  wife,  ran  off  with  a 
gladiator7  to  Pharos  and  the  Nile  and  the  ill-famed 

8  A  murmillo  was  equipped  as  a  Gaulish  warrior  in  heavy 
armour.  He  carried  the  image  of  a  fish  in  his  crest,  whence 
the  name  jxopjxvpos  or  fiopfivKos. 

7  Ludus  is  properly  a  gladiatorial  school,  or  a  troop  of 
gladiators. 

89 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

prodigia  et  mores  urbis  damnante  Canopo. 
inmemor  ilia  domus  et  coniugis  atque  sororis  85 

nil  patriae  indulsit,  plorantesque  improba  natos, 
utque  magis  stupeas,  ludos  Paridemque  reliquit. 
sed  quamquam  in  magnis  opibus  plumaque  paterna 
et  segmentatis  dormisset  parvula  cunis, 
contempsit  pelagus  ;  famam  contempserat  olim,       90 
cuius  apud  molles  minima  est  iactura  cathedras. 
Tyrrhenos  igitur  fluctus  lateque  sonantem 
pertulit  Ionium  constanti  pectore,  quamvis 
mutandum  totiens  esset  mare,     iusta  pericli 
si  ratio  est  et  honesta,  timent  pavidoque  gelantur  95 
pectore  nee  tremulis  possunt  insistere  plantis  : 
fortem  animum  praestant  rebus  quas  turpiter  audent. 
si  iubeat  coniunx,  durum  est  conscendere  navem ; 
tunc  sentina  gravis,  tunc  summus  vertitur  aer. 
quae    moechum    sequitur,    stomacho    valet,     ilia 

maritum  100 

convomit,  haec  inter  nautas  et  prandet  et  errat 
per  puppem  et  duros  gaudet  tractai'e  rudentis. 
Qua  tamen  exarsit  forma,  qua  capta  iuventa 
Eppia  ?  quid  vidit  propter  quod  ludia  dici 
sustinuit?  nam  Sergiolus  iam  radere  guttur  105 

coeperat  et  secto  requiem  sperare  lacerto ; 
praeterea  multa  in  facie  deformia,  sicut 
attritus  galea  mediisque  in  naribus  ingens 
gibbus  et  acre  malum  semper  stillantis  ocelli, 
sed  gladiator  erat ;  facit  hoc  illos  Hyacinthos,       110 
hoc  pueris  patriaeque,  hoc  praetulit  ilia  sorori 


90 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

city  of  Lagos,  Canopus  itself  cried  shame  upon  the 
monstrous  morals  of  our  town.  Forgetful  of  home, 
of  husband  and  of  sister,  without  thought  of  her 
country,  she  shamelessly  abandoned  her  weeping 
children  ;  and — more  marvellous  still — deserted  Paris 
and  the  games.  Though  born  in  wealth,  though  as 
a  babe  she  had  slept  in  a  bedizened  cradle  on  the 
paternal  down,  she  made  light  of  the  sea,  just  as  she 
had  long  made  light  of  her  good  name — a  loss  but 
little  accounted  of  among  our  soft  litter-riding  dames. 
And  so  with  stout  heart  she  endured  the  tossing  and 
the  roaring  of  the  Tyrrhenian  and  Ionian  Seas,  and 
all  the  many  seas  she  had  to  cross.  For  when  danger 
comes  in  a  right  and  honourable  way,  a  woman's 
heart  grows  chill  with  fear ;  she  cannot  stand  upon 
her  trembling  feet :  but  if  she  be  doing  a  bold,  bad 
thing,  her  courage  fails  not.  For  a  husband  to  order 
his  wife  on  board  ship  is  cruelty  :  the  bilge-water 
then  sickens  her,  the  heavens  go  round  and  round. 
But  if  she  is  running  away  with  a  lover,  she  feels 
no  qualms  :  then  she  vomits  over  her  husband  ;  now 
she  messes  with  the  sailors,  she  roams  about  the 
deck,  and  delights  in  hauling  at  the  hard  ropes. 

103  And  what  were  the  youthful  charms  which 
captivated  Eppia?  What  did  she  see  in  him  to  allow 
herself  to  be  called  "  a  she-Gladiator  "  ?  Her  dear 
Sergius  had  already  begun  to  shave  ;  a  wounded  arm 
gave  promise  of  a  discharge,  and  there  were  sundry 
deformities  in  his  face  :  a  scar  caused  by  the  helmet, 
a  huge  wen  upon  his  nose,  a  nasty  humour  always 
trickling  from  his  eye.  But  then  he  was  a  gladiator! 
It  is  this  that  transforms  these  fellows  into  Hya- 
cinths !  it  was  this  that  she  preferred  to  children  and 
to  country,  to  sister  and  to  husband.     What  these 

91 


IVVENALIS  SATVRA  VI 

atque  viro  :  ferrum  est  quod  amant.    hie  Sergius  idem 
accepta  rude  coepisset  Veiento  videri. 

Quid  privata  domus,  quid  fecerit  Eppia,  curas  ? 
respiee  ri vales  divorum,  Claudius  audi  115 

quae  tulerit.     dormire  viruro  cum  senserat  uxor, 
ausa  Palatino  tegetem  praeferre  cubili, 
sumere  nocturnos  meretrix  Augusta  cucullos 
linquebat  comite  ancilla  non  amplius  una> 
sed  nigrum  flavo  crinem  abscondente  galero  120 

intravit  calidum  veteri  centone  lupanar 
et  cellam  vacuam  atque  suam  ;  tunc  nuda  papillis 
prostitit  auratis  titulum  mentita  Lyciscae 
ostenditque  tuum,  generose  Britannice,  ventrem. 
excepit  blanda  intrantis  atque  aera  poposcit ;         125 
mox  lenone  suas  iam  dimittente  puellas  127 

tristis  abit,  et  quod  potuit  tamen  ultima  cellam 
clausit,  adhuc  ardens  rigidae  tentigine  volvae, 
et  lassata  viris  necdum  satiata  recessit,  130 

obscurisque  genis  turpis  fumoque  lucernae 
foeda  lupanaris  tulit  ad  pulvinar  odorem. 

Hippomanes  carmenque  loquar  coctumque   vene- 
num 
privignoque  datum  ?  faciunt  graviora  coactae 
imperio  sexus  minimumque  libidine  peccant.  135 

"  Optima  set  quare  Censennia  teste  marito  ?  " 
bis  quingena  dedit :  tanti  vocat  ille  pudicam. 


1  Probably  the  husband. 

5  In  allusion  to  the  deification  of  the  emperors. 

3  Messalina  was  the  mother  of  Britannicus,  b.  a.d.  42. 

92 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  VI 

women  love  is  the  sword  :  had  this  same  Sergius 
received  his  discharge,  he  would  have  been  no  better 
than  a  Veiento.1 

114  Do  the  concerns  of  a  private  household  and 
the  doings  of  Eppia  affect  you  ?  Then  look  at  those 
who  rival  the  Gods,2  and  hear  what  Claudius  en- 
dured. As  soon  as  his  wife  perceived  that  her  husband 
was  asleep,  this  august  harlot  was  shameless  enough 
to  prefer  a  common  mat  to  the  imperial  couch. 
Assuming  a  night-cowl,  and  attended  by  a  single 
maid,  she  issued  forth  ;  then,  having  concealed  her 
raven  locks  under  a  light-coloured  peruque,  she  took 
her  place  in  a  brothel  reeking  with  long-used  cover- 
lets. Entering  an  empty  cell  reserved  for  herself, 
she  there  took  her  stand,  under  the  feigned  name  of 
Lycisca,  her  nipples  bare  and  gilded,  and  exposed  to 
view  the  womb  that  bore  thee,  O  nobly-born  Britan- 
nicus ! 3  Here  she  graciously  received  all  comers, 
asking  from  each  his  fee;  and  when  at  length  the 
keeper  dismissed  the  rest,  she  remained  to  the  very 
last  before  closing  her  cell,  and  with  passion  still 
raging  hot  within  her  went  sorrowfully  away.  Then 
exhausted  but  unsatisfied,  with  soiled  cheeks,  and 
begrimed  with  the  smoke  of  lamps,  she  took  back  to 
the  imperial  pillow  all  the  odours  of  the  stews. 

J33  wiry  tell  of  love  potions  and  incantations,  of 
poisons  brewed  and  administered  to  stepsons,  or  of 
the  grosser  crimes  to  which  women  are  driven  by 
the  imperious  power  of  sex  ?  Their  sins  of  lust  are 
the  least  of  all  their  sins. 

136  "But  tell  me  why  is  Censennia,  on  her  hus- 
band's testimony,  the  best  of  wives  ?  "  She  brought 
him  a  million  sesterces  ;  that  is  the  price  at  which 
he  calls  her  chaste.     He  has  not  pined  under  the 

93 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

nee  pharetris  Veneris  macer  est  aut  lampade  fervet : 
inde  faces  ardent,  veniunt  a  dote  sagittae. 
libertas  emitur  ;  coram  licet  innuat  atque  140 

rescribat :  vidua  est,  locuples  quae  nupsit  avaro. 

"  Cur  desiderio  Bibulae  Sertorius  ardet  ?  " 
si  verum  excutias,  facies,  non  uxor  amatur. 
tres  rugae  subeant  et  se  cutis  arida  laxet, 
fiant  obscuri  dentes  oculique  minores  :  145 

"collige  sarcinulas,"  dicet  libertus,  "  et  exi. 
iam  gravis  es  nobis,  et  saepe  emungeris.     exi 
ocius"  et  "  propera,  sicco  venit  altera  naso." 
interea  calet  et  regnat  poscitque  maritum 
pastores  et  ovem  Canusinam  ulmosque  Falernas ;  150 
quantulum  in  hoc  ?  pueros  omnes,  ergastula  tota  ; 
quodque  domi  non  est,  sed  habet  vicinus,  ematur. 
mense  quidem  brumae,  quo 1  iam  mercator  Iason 
clausus  et  armatis  opstat  casa  Candida  nautis, 
grandia  tolluntur  crystallina,  maxima  rursus  155 

myrrhina,  deinde  adamans  notissimus  et  Beronices 
in  digito  factus  pretiosior  :  hunc  dedit  olim 
barbarus  incestae,  dedit  hunc  2  Agrippa  sorori, 

1  quo  PA  :  cum  ifi. 

2  dedil  hunc  S^  :  dedit  hue  P :  Housm.  conj.  geslarc. 


1  This  passage  is  thus  explained  :  The  lady  buys  various 
articles  at  the  feast  of  the  Sigillaria  (December  17-20),  so 
called  from  the  statuettes  which  were  then  on  sale.  These 
and  other  articles  were  set  out  in  canvas  booths,  which  were 
built  up  against  certain  public  buildings  so  as  to  screen 
them  from  view.     One  of  these  buildings  was  the  Portico  of 

94 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

darts  of  Venus  ;  he  was  never  burnt  by  her  torch. 
It  was  the  dowry  that  lighted  his  fires,  the  dowry 
that  shot  those  arrows  !  That  dowry  bought  liberty 
for  her  :  she  may  make  what  signals,  and  write  what 
love  letters  she  pleases,  before  her  husband's  face ; 
the  rich  woman  who  marries  a  money-loving  husband 
is  as  good  as  unmarried. 

H2  it  Why  does  Sartorius  burn  with  love  for  Bibula  ?  " 
If  you  shake  out  the  truth,  it  is  the  face  that  he 
loves,  not  the  woman.  Let  three  wrinkles  make 
their  appearance;  let  her  skin  become  dry  and 
flabby ;  let  her  teeth  turn  black,  and  her  eyes  lose 
their  lustre:  then  will  his  freedman  give  her  the 
order,  "Pack  up  your  traps  and  be  off!  you've  be- 
come a  nuisance ;  you  are  for  ever  blowing  your 
nose  ;  be  off,  and  quick  about  it !  There's  another 
wife  coming  who  will  not  sniffle."  But  till  that  day 
comes,  the  lady  rules  the  roast,  asking  her  husband 
for  shepherds  and  Canusian  sheep,  and  elms  for  her 
Falernian  vines.  But  that's  a  mere  nothing  :  she  asks 
for  all  his  slave-boys,  in  town  and  country  ;  everything 
that  her  neighbour  possesses,  and  that  she  does  not 
possess,  must  be  bought.  Then  in  the  winter  time, 
when  the  merchant  Jason  is  shut  out  from  view,  and 
his  armed  sailors  are  blocked  out  by  the  white  booths,1 
she  will  carry  off  huge  crystal  vases,  vases  bigger  still 
of  agate,  and  finally  a  diamond  of  great  renown, 
made  precious  by  the  finger  of  Berenice.2  It  was 
given  as  a  present  long  ago  by  the  barbarian  Agrippa 
to  his  incestuous  sister,  in  that  country  where  kino-s 

Agrippa  on  which  there  were  paintings  of  the  Argonauts. 
Thus  "the  merchant"  Jason  and  his  armed  sailers  were 
shut  out  and  could  not  be  seen. 

J  Sister  to  King  Agrippa  II.  (Acts,  xxv.  23). 

95 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

observant  ubi  festa  mero  pede  sabbata  reges 

et  vetus  indulget  senibus  dementia  poreis.  160 

"  Nullane  de  tantis  gresnbus  tibi  diffna  videtur  ?  " 
sit  formosa  decens  dives  fecunda,  vetustos 
porticibus  disponat  avos,  intactior  omni 
crinibus  effusis  bellum  dirimente  Sabina, 
rara  avis  in  terris  nigroque  simillima  cycno :  165 

quis  feret  uxorem  cui  constant  omnia  ?  malo, 
malo  Venusinam  quam  te,  Cornelia,  mater 
Graccliorum,  si  cum  magnis  virtutibus  adfers 
grande  supercilium  et  numeras  in  dote  triumphos. 
tolle  tuum,   precor,   Hannibalem  victumque  Sy- 

phacem  170 

in  castris  et  cum  tota  Carthatnne  migra. 

"  Parce,  precor,  Paean,  et  tu,.  dea,  pone  sagittas  ; 
nil  pueri  faciunt,  ipsam  configite  matrern," 
Amphion  clamat ;  sed  Paean  contrahit  arcum. 
extulit  ergo  greges  natorum  ipsumque  parentem,  175 
dum  sibi  nobilior  Latonae  gente  videtur 
atque  eadem  scrofa  Niobe  fecundior  alba, 
quae  tanti  gravitas,  quae  forma,  ut  se  tibi  semper 
imputet  ?     huius  enim  rari  summique  voluptas 
nulla  boni,  quotiens  animo  corrupta  superbo  180 

plus  aloes  quam  mellis  habet.    quis  deditus  autem 


1  Josephus  relates  that  Berenice  sacrificed  at  Jerusalem 
with  dishevelled  hair  and  bare  feet. 

2  For  Jewish  abstinence  from  pork  see  Tac.  Hist.  v.  4. 

3  Alluding  to  the  exploits  of  the  elder  Scipio. 

4  Husband  of  Niobe. 

96 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

celebrate  festal  sabbaths  with  bare  feet/  and  where 
a  long-established  clemency  suffers  pigs  to  attain  old 
age.2 

lei  ii  d0  yOU  say  no  worthy  wife  is  to  be  found 
among  all  these  crowds?"  Well,  let  her  be  hand- 
some, charming,  rich  and  fertile  ;  let  her  have  ancient 
ancestors  ranged  about  her  halls  ;  let  her  be  more 
chaste  than  the  dishevelled  Sabine  maidens  who 
stopped  the  war — a  prodigy  as  rare  upon  the  earth 
as  a  black  swan  !  yet  who  could  endure  a  wife  that 
possessed  all  perfections?  I  would  rather  have  a 
Venusian  wench  for  my  wife  than  you,  O  Cornelia, 
mother  of  the  Gracchi,  if,  with  all  your  virtues,  you 
bring  me  a  haughty  brow,  and  reckon  up  Triumphs 
as  part  of  your  marriage  portion.  Away  with  your 
Hannibal,  I  beseech  you  !  Away  with  Syphax  over- 
powered in  his  camp !  Take  yourself  off,  Carthage 
and  all ! 3 

172  "  Be  merciful,  I  pray,  O  Apollo !  and  thou,  O  god- 
dess, lay  down  thine  arrows.  These  babes  have  done 
naught :  shoot  down  their  mother  !  "  Thus  prayed 
Amphion  ; 4  but  Apollo  bends  his  bow,  and  Niobe 5 
led  forth  to  the  grave  her  troop  of  sons,  and  their 
father  to  boot,  because  she  deemed  herself  of  nobler 
race  than  Latona,  and  more  prolific  than  the  white 
sow  of  Alba.  For  is  any  dignity  in  a  wife,  any 
beauty,  worth  the  cost,  if  she  is  for  ever  reckoning 
up  her  merits  against  you  ?  These  high  and  tran- 
scendent qualities  lose  all  their  charm  when  spoilt 
by  a  pride  that  savours  more  of  aloes  than  of  honey. 

5  Wife  of  Amphion,  king  of  Thebes.  Proud  of  her  six 
sons  and  six  daughters,  she  boasted  herself  against  Lelo, 
mother  of  Apollo  and  Artemis.  Indignant  at  her  presump- 
tion, they  slew  all  her  children  with  arrows. 

97 

H 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

usque  adeo  est,  ut  non  illam  quam  laudibus  effert 
horreat  inque  diem  septenis  oderit  horis  ? 

Quaedam  parva  quidem,  sed  non  toleranda  mantis, 
nam  quid  rancidius,  quam  quod  se  non  putat  ulla  185 
formosam  nisi  quae  de  Tusca  Graecula  facta  est, 
de  Sulmonensi  mera  Cecropis  ?     omnia  Graece, 
cum  sit  turpe  magis  nostris  nescire  Latine  ; 
hoc  sermone  pavent,  hoc  iram  gaudia  curas, 
hoc  cuncta  effundunt  animi  secreta  :  quid  ultra?   190 
concumbunt  Graece.     dones  tamen  ista  puellis  : 
tune  etiam,  quam  sextus  et  octogensimus  annus 
pulsat,  adhuc  Graece  ?  non  est  hie  sermo  pudicus 
in  vetula  :  quotiens  lascivum  intervenit  illud 
£on/  xal  \j/vxv,  modo  sub  lodice  relictis1  195 

uteris  in  turba.     quod  enim  non  excitet  inguen 
vox  blanda  et  nequam  ?    digitos  habet.    ut  tamen 

omnes 
subsidant  pinnae,  dicas  haec  mollius  Haemo 
quamquam  et  Carpophoro,  facies  tua  conputat  annos. 

Si  tibi  legitimis  pactam  iunctamque  tabellis       200 
non  es  amaturus,  ducendi  nulla  videtur 
causa,  nee  est  quare  cenam  et  mustacea  perdas 
labente  officio  crudis  donanda,  nee  illud 
quod  prima  pro  nocte  datur,  cum  lance  beata 
Dacicus  et  scripto  radiat  Germanicus  auro.  205 

si  tibi  simplicitas  uxoria,  deditus  uni 
est  animus,  summitte  caput  cervice  parata 
ferre  iugum.  nullam  invenies  quae  parcat  amanti : 

1  Housm.  conj.  ferendis  for  the  relictis  of  Pi//, 

1  Sulmo,  in  the  Pelignian  country,  was  the  birthplace  of 
Ovid.  a  Names  of  actors. 

3  Alluding  to  the  gold  coins  (aurei)  minted  by  Trajan 
in  honour  of  his  victories.  The  aureus  was  about  equal  in 
metal  value  to  our  guinea. 

98 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

And  who  was  ever  so  enamoured  as  not  to  shrink 
from  the  woman  whom  he  praises  to  the  skies, 
and  to  hate  her  for  seven  hours  out  of  every 
twelve  ? 

184  Some  small  faults  are  intolerable  to  husbands. 
What  can  be  more  offensive  than  this,  that  no  woman 
believes  in  her  own  beauty  unless  she  has  converted 
herself  from  a  Tuscan  into  a  Greekling,  or  from  a 
maid  of  Sulmo  *  into  a  maid  of  Athens  ?     They  talk 
nothing  but  Greek,  though  it  is  a  greater  shame  for 
our  people  to  be  ignorant  of  Latin.     Their  fears  and 
their  wrath,  their  joys  and  their  troubles— all  the 
secrets  of  their  souls — are  poured  forth  in  Greek ; 
their  very  loves  are  carried  on  in  Greek  fashion.    All 
this  might   be    pardoned    in   a   girl ;    but  will  you, 
who  are  hard  on  your  eighty-sixth  year,  still  talk  in 
Greek  ?   That  tongue  is  not  decent  in  an  old  woman's 
mouth.     When  you  come  out  with  the  wanton  words 
&V  Kal  tl/vx^j,  you  are  using  in  public  the  language 
of  the  bed-chamber.     Caressing  and  naughty  words 
like  these  incite  to  love ;  but  though  you  say  them 
more  tenderly  than  a   Haemus   or  a  Carpophorus,2 

they  will   cause    no   fluttering  of   the    heart your 

years  are  counted  up  upon  your  face ! 

200  If  you  are  not  to  love  the  woman  betrothed 
and  united  to  you  in  due  form,  what  reason  have 
you  for  marrying?  Why  waste  the  supper,  and  the 
wedding  cakes  to  be  given  to  the  well-filled  guests 
when  the  company  is  slipping  away— to  say  nothing 
of  the  first  night's  gift  of  a  salver  rich  with  glittering 
gold  inscribed  with  Dacian  or  Germanic  victories  ?  3 
If  you  are  honestly  uxorious,  and  devoted  to  one 
woman,  then  bow  your  head  and  submit  your  neck 
to  the  yoke.    Never  will  you  find  a  woman  who  spares 

99 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

ardeat  ipsa  licet,  tormentis  gaudet  amantis 

et  spoliis  ;  igitur  longe  minus  utilis  illi  210 

uxor,  quisquis  erit  bonus  optandusque  maritus, 

nil  umquam  invita  donabis  coniuge,  vendes 

hac  opstante  nihil,  nihil,  haec  si  nolet,  emetur. 

haec  dabit  affectus  :  ille  excludatur  amicus 

iam  senior,  cuius  barbam  tua  ianua  vidit.  215 

testandi  cum  sit  lenonibus  atque  lanistis 

libertas  et  iuris  idem  contingat  harenae, 

non  unus  tibi  rivalis  dictabitur  heres. 

"  Pone   crucem  servo."    "meruit  quo  crimine 

servus 
supplicium  ?  quis  testis  adest  ?  quis  detulit  ?  audi ;  220 
nulla  umquam  de  morte  hominis  cunctatio  longa 

est." 
"  o  demens,  ita  servus  homo  est  ?  nil  fecerit,  esto  : 
hoc  volo,  sic  iubeo,  sit  pro  ratione  voluntas." 
imperat  ergo  viro.     set  mox  haec  regna  relinquit 
permutatque  domos  et  flammea  content,  inde        225 
avolat  et  spreti  repetit  vestigia  lecti ; 
ornatas  paulo  ante  fores,  pendentia  linquit 
vela  domus  et  adhuc  virides  in  limine  ramos. 
sic  crescit  numerus,  sic  fiunt  octo  mariti 
quinque  per  autumnos.  titulo  res  digna  sepulchri.   230 

Desperanda  tibi  salva  concordia  socru. 
ilia  docet  spoliis  nudi  gaudere  mariti, 

IOO 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

the  man  who  loves  her;  for  though  she  be  herself 
aflame,  she  delights  to  torment  and  plunder  him. 
So  the  better  the  man,  the  more  desirable  he  be  as  a 
husband,  the  less  good  will  he  get  out  of  his  wife. 
No  present  will  you  ever  make  if  your  wife  forbids ; 
nothing  will  you  ever  sell  if  she  objects;  nothing 
will  you  buy  without  her  consent.  She  will  arrange 
your  friendships  for  you;  she  will  turn  your  now- 
aged  friend  from  the  door  which  saw  the  beginnings 
of  his  beard.  Panders  and  trainers  can  make  their 
wills  as  they  please,  as  also  can  the  gentlemen  of 
the  arena ;  but  you  will  have  to  write  down  among 
your  heirs  more  than  one  rival  of  your  own. 

219  "  Crucify  that  slave  !  "  says  the  wife.  «  But 
what  crime  worthy  of  death  has  he  committed  ?  "  asks 
the  husband  ;  «  where  are  the  witnesses  ?  who  in- 
formed against  him  ?  Give  him  a  hearing  at  least ;  no 
delay  can  be  too  long  when  a  man's  life  is  at  stake  !" 
"  What,  you  numskull  ?  You  call  a  slave  a  man,  do 
you?  He  has  done  no  wrong,  you  say?  Be  it  so; 
but  this  is  my  will  and  my  command  :  let  my  will  be 
the  voucher  for  the  deed."  Thus  does  she  lord  it 
over  her  husband.  But  before  long  she  vacates  her 
kingdom ;  she  Hits  from  one  home  to  another,  wear- 
ing out  her  bridal  veil ;  then  back  she  flies  again  and 
returns  to  her  own  imprints  in  the  bed  that  she  has 
abandoned,  leaving  behind  her  the  newly  decorated 
door,  the  festal  hangings  on  the  walls,  and  the  gar- 
lands still  green  over  the  threshold.  Thus  does  the 
tale  of  her  husbands  grow ;  there  will  be  eight  of 
them  in  the  course  of  five  autumns — a  fact  worthy 
of  commemoration  on  her  tomb  ! 

231  Give   up   all    hope    of  peace  so  long  as   your 
mother-in-law  is  alive.     It  is  she  that  teaches  her 

IOI 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  VI 

ilia  docet  missis  a  corruptore  tabellis 

nil  rude  nee  simplex  rescribere,  decipit  ilia 

custodes  aut  aere  domat ;  tunc  corpore  sano  235 

advocat  Archigenen  onerosaque  pallia  iactat. 

abditus  interea  latet  et  secretus  adulter, 

inpatiensque  morae  silet  et  praeputia  ducit. 

scilicet  expectas  ut  tradat  mater  honestos 

atque  alios  mores  quam  quos  habet  ?  utile  porro    240 

filiolam  turpi  vetulae  producere  turpem. 

Nulla  fere  causa  est  in  qua  non  femina  litem 
moverit.     accusat  Manilia,  si  rea  non  est. 
conponunt  ipsae  per  se  formantque  libellos, 
principium  atque  locos  Celso  dictare  paratae.  245 

Endromidas  Tyrias  et  femineum  ceroma 
quis  nescit,  vel  quis  non  vidit  vulnei-a  pali, 
quem  cavat  adsiduis  rudibus  scutoque  lacessit 
atque  omnes  implet  numeros  dignissima  prorsus 
Florali  matrona  tuba,  nisi  si  quid  in  illo  250 

pectore  plus  agitat  veraeque  paratur  harenae. 
quem  praestare  potest  mulier  galeata  pudorem, 
quae  fugit  a  sexu  ?  vires  amat :  haec  tamen  ipsa 
vir  nollet  fieri,  nam  quantula  nostra  voluptas  ! 
quale  decus,  rerum  si  coniugis  auctio  fiat,  255 

balteus  et  manicae  et  cristae  crurisque  sinistri 
dimidium  tegimen  !  vel,  si  diversa  movebit 

1  A  fashionable  doctor  of  the  day. 

2  Either  a  jurist  or  a  rhetorician. 

3  The    endromis   was   a   coarse,    woollen   cloak   in   which 
athletes  wrapped  themselves  after  their  exercises. 

4  Games  in  honour  of  Flora  (April  28-May  3),  at  which 
much  female  licence  was  allowed. 

6  i.t.  a  gladiatorial  contest. 

102 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

daughter  to  revel  in  stripping  and  despoiling  her 
husband ;  it  is  she  that  teaches  her  to  reply  to  a 
seducer's  love-letters  in  no  plain  and  honest  fashion ; 
she  eludes  or  bribes  your  guards ;  it  is  she  that  calls 
in  Archigenes1  when  your  daughter  has  nothing  the 
matter  with  her,  and  tosses  off  the  heavy  blankets ; 
the  lover  meanwhile  is  in  secret  and  silent  hiding, 
trembling  with  impatience  and  expectation.  Do  you 
really  expect  the  mother  to  teach  her  daughter 
honest  ways — ways  different  from  her  own?  Nay, 
the  vile  old  woman  finds  a  profit  in  bringing  up  her 
daughter  to  be  vile. 

242  There  never  was  a  case  in  court  in  which  the 
quarrel  was  not  started  by  a  woman.  If  Manilia  is 
not  a  defendant,  she'll  be  the  plaintiff;  she  will  her- 
self frame  and  adjust  the  pleadings ;  she  will  be 
ready  to  instruct  Celsus2  himself  how  to  open  his 
case,  and  how  to  urge  his  points. 

2«  Why  need  I  tell  of  the  purple  wraps  3  and  the 
wrestling-oils  used  by  women  ?  Who  has  not  seen 
one  of  them  smiting  a  stump,  piercing  it  through  and 
through  with  a  foil,  lunging  at  it  with  a  shield,  and 
going  through  all  the  proper  motions  ?- — a  matron 
truly  qualified  to  blow  a  trumpet  at  the  Floralia  ! 4 
Unless,  indeed,  she  is  nursing  some  further  ambition 
in  her  bosom,  and  is  practising  for  the  real  arena. 
What  modesty  can  you  expect  in  a  woman  who  wears 
a  helmet,  abjures  her  own  sex,  and  delights  in  feats 
of  strength  ?  Yet  she  would  not  choose  to  be  a  man, 
knowing  the  superior  joys  of  womanhood.  What  a 
fine  thing  for  a  husband,  at  an  auction  of  his  wife's 
effects,  to  see  her  belt  and  armlets  and  plumes  put  up 
for  sale,  with  a  gaiter  that  covers  half  the  left  leg ; 
or  if  she  fight  another  sort 5  of  battle,  how  charmed 

103 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

proelia,  tu  felix  ocreas  vendente  puella. 

hae  sunt  quae  tenui  sudant  in  cyclade,  quarum 

delicias  et  panniculus  bombycinus  urit.  260 

aspice  quo  fremitu  monstratos  perferat  ictus 

et  quanto  galeae  curvetur  pondere,  quanta 

poplitibus  sedeat  quam  denso  fascia  libro, 

et  ride  positis  scaphium  cum  sumitur  armis. 

dicite  vos,  neptes  Lepidi  caecive  Metelli  265 

Gurgitis  aut  Fabii,  quae  ladia  sumpserit  umquam 

bos  babitus,  quando  ad  palum  gemat  uxor  Asyli. 

Semper  babet  lites  alternaque  iurgia  lectus 
in  quo  nupta  iacet ;  minimum  dormitur  in  illo. 
turn  gravis  ilia  viro,  tunc  orba  tigride  peior,  270 

cum  simulat  gemitus  occulti  conscia  facti ; 
aut  odit  pueros  aut  ficta  paelice  plorat, 
uberibus  semper  lacrimis  semperque  paratis 
in  statione  sua  atque  expectantibus  illam, 
quo  iubeat  manare  modo ;  tu  ci'edis  amorem,         275 
tu  tibi  tunc,  uruca,  places  fletumque  labellis 
exorbes,  quae  scripta  et  quot  lecture  tabellas, 
si  tibi  zelotypae  retegantur  scrinia  moecbae  ! 
sed  iacet  in  servi  complexibus  aut  equitis.     "  die, 
die  aliquem  sodes  hie,  Quintiliane,  colorem."         280 
"  haeremus.   die  ipsa."   "  olim  convenerat,"  inquit, 
"  ut  faceres  tu  quod  velles,  nee  non  ego  possem 
indulgere  mihi.     clames  licet  et  mare  caelo 


1  Supposed  to  be  a  gladiator. 

2  The  famous  Roman  rhetorician,  b.  A.D.  44,  author  of  the 
Institutiones  Oratoriae. 

104 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

you  will  be  to  see  your  young  wife  disposing  of  her 
greaves  !  Yet  these  are  the  women  who  find  the 
thinnest  of  thin  robes  too  hot  for  them ;  whose  deli- 
cate flesh  is  chafed  by  the  finest  of  silk  tissue.  See 
how  she  pants  as  she  goes  through  her  prescribed 
exercises;  how  she  bends  under  the  weight  of  her 
helmet ;  how  big  and  coarse  are  the  bandages  which 
enclose  her  haunches  ;  and  then  laugh  when  she  lays 
down  her  arms  and  shows  herself  to  be  a  woman ! 
Tell  us,  ye  grand-daughters  of  Lepidus,  or  of  the  blind 
Metellus,  or  of  Fabius  Gurges,  what  gladiator's  wife 
ever  assumed  accoutrements  like  these  ?  When  did 
the  wife  of  Asylus 1  ever  gasp  against  a  stump  ? 

268  The  bed  that  holds  a  wife  is  never  free  from 
wrangling  and  mutual  bickerings ;  no  sleep  is  to  be 
got  there  !  It  is  there  that  she  sets  upon  her  husband, 
more  savage  than  a  tigress  that  has  lost  her  cubs ; 
conscious  of  her  own  secret  slips,  she  affects  a 
grievance,  abusing  his  slaves,  or  weeping  over  some 
imagined  mistress.  She  has  an  abundant  supply  of 
tears  always  ready  in  their  place,  awaiting  her  com- 
mand in  which  fashion  they  should  flow.  You,  poor 
dolt,  are  delighted,  believing  them  to  be  tears  of 
love,  and  kiss  them  away;  but  what  notes,  what 
love-letters  would  you  find  if  you  opened  the  desk 
of  your  green-eyed  adulterous  wife  !  If  you  find  her 
in  the  arms  of  a  slave  or  of  a  knight,  "Speak,  speak, 
Quintilian,2  give  me  one  of  your  colours,3  "  she  will 
say.  But  Quintilian  has  none  to  give:  "find  it 
yourself,"  says  he.  "We  agreed  long  ago,"  says  the 
lady,  "that  you  were  to  go  your  way,  and  I  mine. 
You  may  confound  sea  and  sky  with  your  bellowing, 

3  Color  is  a  technical  term  in  rhetoric,  denoting  an  argu- 
ment  which  puts  a  favourable  or  palliative  light  on  some  act. 

*°5 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

uonfundas,  homo  sum."     nihil  est  audacius  illis 
deprensis  :  iram  atque  animos  a  crimine  sumunt.  285 

Unde  haec  monstra  tamen  vel  quo  de  fonte, 
requiris  ? 
praestabat  castas  humilis  fortuna  Latinas 
quondam,  nee  vitiis  contingi  parva  sinebant 
tecta  labor  somnique  breves  et  vellere  Tusco 
vexatae  duraeque  manus  ac  proximus  urbi  290 

Hannibal  et  stantes  Collina  turre  mariti. 
nunc  patimur  longae  pacis  mala,  saevior  armis 
luxuria  incubuit  victumque  ulciscitur  orbem. 
nullum  crimen  abest  facinusque  libidinis,  ex  quo 
paupertas  Romana  perit.     hinc  fluxit  ad  istos         295 
et  Sybaris  colles,  hinc  et  Rhodos  et  Miletos 
atque  coronatum  et  petulans  madidumque  Tarentum. 
prima  peregrinos  obscaena  pecunia  mores 
intulit,  et  turpi  fregerunt  saecula  luxu 
divitiae  molles.     quid  enim  Venus  ebria  curat?     300 
inguinis  et  capitis  quae  sint  discrimina,  nescit 
grandia  quae  mediis  iam  noctibus  ostrea  mordet, 
cum  perfusa  mero  spumant  unguenta  Falerno, 
cum  bibitur  concha,  cum  iam  vertigine  tectum 
ambulat  et  geminis  exsurgit  mensa  lucernis.  305 

I  nunc  et  dubita,  qua  sorbeat  aera  sanna 
Tullia,  quid  dicat  notae  collactea  Maurae 
Maura,  Pudicitiae  veterem  cum  praeterit  aram. 
noctibus  hie  ponunt  lecticas,  micturiunt  hie 
effigiemque  deae  longis  siphonibus  implent  310 


1  For  Hannibal  at  the  Colline  Gate,  B.C.  213,  see  Liv. 
xxvi   10. 

8  Mr.  Duff  explains  this  of  a  scene  in  the  theatre  in  Taren- 
tum when  the  people,  garlanded  in  honour  of  Dionysus, 
insulted  the  Roman  ambassador  (Dio.  Cass,  fragm.  145). 

106 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

I  am  a  human  being  after  all."  There's  no  effrontery 
like  that  of  a  woman  caught  in  the  act ;  her  very 
guilt  inspires  her  with  wrath  and  insolence. 

2S(3  But  whence  come  these  monstrosities  ?  you  ask  ; 
from  what  fountain  do  they  flow  ?  In  days  of  old,  the 
wives  of  Latium  were  kept  chaste  by  their  humble 
fortunes.  It  was  toil  and  brief  slumbers  that  kept 
vice  from  polluting  their  modest  homes  ;  hands  chafed 
and  hardened  by  Tuscan  fleeces,  Hannibal  nearing 
the  city,  and  husbands  standing  to  arms  at  the 
Colline  gate.1  We  are  now  suffering  the  calamities 
of  long  peace.  Luxury,  more  deadly  than  any  foe, 
has  laid  her  hand  upon  us,  and  avenges  a  conquered 
world.  Since  the  day  when  Roman  poverty  perished, 
no  deed  of  crime  or  lust  has  been  wanting  to  us ; 
from  that  moment  Sybaris  and  Rhodes  and  Miletus 
have  poured  in  upon  our  hills,  with  the  begarlanded 
and  drunken  and  unabashed  Tarentum.2  Filthy  lucre 
first  brought  in  amongst  us  foreign  ways;  wealth 
enervated  and  corrupted  the  ages  with  foul  indul- 
gences. What  decency  does  Venus  observe  when  she 
is  drunken  ?  when  she  knows  not  one  member  from 
another,  eats  giant  oysters  at  midnight,  pours  foaming 
unguents  into  her  unmixed  Falernian,  and  drinks  out 
of  perfume-bowls,  while  the  roof  spins  dizzily  round, 
the  table  dances,  and  every  light  shows  double  ! 

306  Go  to  now  and  wonder  what  means  the  sneer 
with  which  Tullia  snuffs  the  air,  or  what  Maura 
whispers  to  her  ill-famed  foster-sister,  when  she 
passes  by  the  ancient  altar  of  Chastity  ?  3  It  is  there 
that  they  set  down  their  litters  at  night,  and  befoul 
the  image  of  the  Goddess,  playing  their  filthy  pranks 

3  The  ancient  Temple  of    Pudicitia  was   in   the  Forum 
Boarium. 

107 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

inque  vices  equitant  ac  Luna  teste  moventur  ; 
inde  domos  abeunt :  tu  calcas  luce  reversa 
coniugis  urinam  magnos  visums  amicos. 

Nota  bonae  secreta  deae,  cum  tibia  lumbos 
incitat  et  cornu  pariter  vinoque  feruntur  315 

attonitae  crinemque  rotant  ululantque  Priapi 
maenades.     o  quantus  tunc  illis  mentibus  ardor 
concubitus,  quae  vox  saltante  libidine,  quantus 
ille  meri  veteris  per  crura  madentia  torrens  ! 
lenonum  ancillas  posita  Saufeia  corona  320 

provocat  ac  tollit  pendentis  praemia  coxae  ; 
ipsa  Medullinae  fluctum  crisantis  adorat : 
palma  inter  dominas,  virtus  natalibus  aequa. 
nil  ibi  per  ludum  simulabitur,  omnia  fient 
ad  verumj  quibus  incendi  iam  frigidus  aevo  325 

Laomedontiades  et  Nestoris  hirnea  possit. 
tunc  prurigo  morae  inpatiens,  turn  femina  simplex, 
ac  pariter  toto  repetitus  clamor  ab  antro 
"iam  fas  est,  admitte  viros."     si  dormit  adulter, 
ilia  iubet  sumpto  iuvenem  properare  cucullo  ;        330 
si  nihil  est,  servis  incurritur ;  abstuleris  spem 
servorum,  veniet  conductus  aquarius  ;  hie  si 
quaeritur  et  desunt  homines,  mora  nulla  per  ipsam, 
quo  minus  imposito  clunem  summittat  asello. 
atque  utinam  ritus  veteres  et  publica  saltern  335 

his  intacta  malis  agerentur  sacra !  sed  omnes 
noverunt  Mauri  atque  Indi  quae  psaltria  penem 
maiorem,  quam  sunt  duo  Caesaris  Antieatones, 
illuc,  testiculi  sibi  conscius  unde  fugit  mus, 
intulerit,  ubi  velari  pictura  iubetur  340 

quaecumque  altei-ius  sexus  imitata  figuras. 

Et  quis  tunc  hominum  contemptor  numinis  ? 
aut  quis 
simpuvium  ridere  Numae  nigrumque  catinum 

108 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

for  the  mom  to  witness.  Thence  home  they  go  ;  while 
you,  when  daylight  comes,  and  you  are  on  your  way 
to  salute  your  mighty  friends,  will  tread  upon  the 
traces  of  your  wife's  abominations. 

314  Well  known  to  all  are  the  mysteries  of  the 
Good  Goddess,  when  the  flute  stirs  the  loins  and  the 
Maenads  of  Priapus  sweep  along,  frenzied  alike  by 
the  horn-blowing  and  the  wine,  whirling  their  locks 
and  howling.  What  foul  longings  burn  within  their 
breasts  !  What  cries  they  utter  as  the  passion  palpi- 
tates within  !  How  drenched  their  limbs  in  torrents 
of  old  wine  !  Saufeia  challenges  the  slave-girls  to  a 
contest.  Her  agility  wins  the  prize,  but  she  has 
herself  in  turn  to  bow  the  knee  to  Medullina.  And 
so  the  palm  remains  with  the  mistress,  whose  ex- 
ploits match  her  birth  !  There  is  no  pretence  in  the 
game;  all  is  enacted  to  the  life  in  a  manner  that 
would  warm  the  cold  blood  of  a  Priam  or  a  Nestor. 
And  now  impatient  nature  can  wait  no  longer : 
woman  shows  herself  as  she  is,  and  the  cry  comes 
from  every  corner  of  the  den,  "  Let  in  the  men  !  " 
If  one  favoured  youth  is  asleep,  another  is  bidden  to 
put  on  his  cowl  and  hurry  along;  if  better  cannot 
be  got,  a  run  is  made  upon  the  slaves ;  if  they  too 
fail,  the  water-carrier  will  be  paid  to  come  in.  O 
would  that  our  ancient  practices,  or  at  least  our 
public  rites,  were  not  polluted  by  scenes  like  these  ! 
But  every  Moor  and  every  Indian  knows  how  Clodius 
forced  his  way  into  a  place  from  which  every  buck- 
mouse  scuttles  away  conscious  of  his  virility,  and  in 
which  no  picture  of  the  male  form  may  be  exhibited 
except  behind  a  veil. 

34-  Who  ever  sneered  at  the  Gods  in  the  days  of 
old  ?    Who  would  have  dared  to  laugh  at  the  earthen- 

109 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

et  Vaticano  fragiles  de  monte  patellas 

ausus  erat  ?  sed  nunc  ad  quas  non  Clodius  aras  ?   345 

[Audio  quid  veteres  olim  moneatis  amici : 
"pone  seram,  cohibe."  x    sed  quis  custodiet  ipsos 
custodes  ?  cauta  est  et  ab  illis  incipit  uxor.2] 
iamque  eadem  su minis  pariter  minimisque  libido, 
nee  melior,  silicem  pedibus  quae  content  atrum,  350 
quam  quae  longorum  veliitur  cervice  Syrorum. 

Ut  spectet  ludos,  conducit  Ogulnia  vestem, 
conducit  comites  sellam  cervical  arnicas 
nutricem  et  flavam  cui  det  mandata  puellam. 
haec  tamen  argenti  superest  quodcumque  paterni  355 
levibus  athletis  et  vasa  novissima  donat ; 
multis  res  angusta  domi,  sed  nulla  pudorem 
paupertatis  habet  nee  se  metitur  ad  ilium 
quern  dedit  haec  posuitque  modum.     tamen  utile 

quid  sit 
prospiciunt  aliquando  virl,  frigusque  famemque     360 
formica  tandem  quidam  expavere  magistra  : 
prodiga  non  sentit  pereuntem  femina  censum. 
ac  velut  exhausta  redivivus  pullulet  area 
nummus  et  e  pleno  tollatur  semper  acervo, 
non  umquam  reputant  quanti  sibi  gaudia  con- 

stent.3  365 

1  P  here  has  the  false  reading  prohibe  for  cohibe. 

2  Lines  346-348  are  obviously  out  of  place.  They  are 
repeated  below,  with  an  addition,  in  their  proper  place  in 

0  29-34. 

3  The  following  thirty-four  lines,  marked  0  1-34,  which 
are  now  accepted  as  genuine  by  Juvenalian  critics,  were  dis- 
covered in  1899  by  Mr.  E.  0.  Winstedt  in  a  Bodleian  MS. 
(Canonicianus  41),  now  known  by  the  letter  0.  For  the 
announcement  of  this  discovery  see  Classical  Review,  May, 
1899,  pp.  201  foil.  The  passage  is  in  many  places  obscure ; 
many  of  the  readings  are  uncertain  ;  and  Professor  Housman 
has  kindly  permitted  me  to  insert  as  above  his  paraphrase  of 

1  io 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

ware  bowls  or  black  pots  of  Numa,  or  the  brittle 
plates  made  out  of  Vatican  clay  ?  But  nowadays  at 
what  altar  will  you  not  find  a  Clodius  ? 1 

346  I  hear  all  this  time  the  advice  of  my  old 
friends — keep  your  women  at  home,  and  put  them 
under  lock  and  key.  Yes,  but  who  will  watch  the 
warders  ?  Wives  are  crafty  and  will  begin  with  them. 
High  or  low  their  passions  are  all  the  same.  She 
who  wears  out  the  black  cobble-stones  with  her 
bare  feet  is  no  better  than  she  who  rides  upon  the 
necks  of  eight  stalwart  Syrians. 

352  Ogulnia  hires  clothes  to  see  the  games ;  she 
hires  attendants,  a  litter,  cushions,  female  friends, 
a  nurse,  and  a  fair-haired  girl  to  run  her  messages ; 
yet  she  will  give  all  that  remains  of  the  family  pfate,' 
down  to  the  last  flagon,  to  some  smooth-faced  athlete. 
Many  of  these  women  are  poor,  but  none  of  them  pay 
any  regard  to  their  poverty,  or  measure  themselves 
by  the  standard  which  that  prescribes  and  lays  down 
for  them.  Men,  on  the  other  hand,  do  sometimes 
have  an  eye  to  utility;  the  ant  has  at  last  taught 
some  of  them  to  dread  cold  and  hunger.  But  your 
extravagant  woman  is  never  sensible  of  her  dwindling 
means;  and  just  as  though  money  were  for  ever 
sprouting  up  afresh  from  her  exhausted  coffers,  and 
she  had  always  a  full  heap  to  draw  from,  she  never 
gives  a  thought  to  what  her  pleasures  cost  her. 

1  Alluding  to  the  profanation  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Bona 
Dea  by  Clodius,  in  B.C.  62,  by  appearing  in  the  disguise  of  a 
female  lutist. 


the  passage  as  a  whole  which  he  published  in  the  G.R.  for 
June,  1S99,  p.  268,  and  which  he  subsequently  corrected  for 
lines  9-12  (G.R.  1904,  pp.  395-8).  He  has  also  kindly 
supplied  me  with  a  version  of  line  18  which  he  left  un- 
translated in  his  original  version. 


Ill 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    VI 

In  quacumque  domo  vivit  luditque  professus      O  1 
obscenum,  tremula  promittit  et  omnia  dextra, 
invenies  omnis  turpes  similesque  cinaedis. 
his  violare  cibos  sacraeque  adsistere  mensae 
permittunt,  et  vasa  iubent  frangenda  lavari,  O  5 

cum  colocyntha  bibit  vel  cum  barbata  chelidon. 
purior  ergo  tuis  laribus  meliorque  lanista, 
in  cuius  numero  longe  migrare  iubetur 
psellus  1  ab  Eupholio  ;  quid  quod  nee  retia  turpi 
iunguntur  tunicae,  nee  cella  ponit  eadem  O  10 

munimenta  umeri  pulsatamque  arma2  tridentem 
qui  nudus  pugnare  solet?     pars  ultima  ludi 
accipit  has  animas  aliusque  in  carcere  nervos. 
sed  tibi  communem  calicem  facit  uxor  et  illis, 
cum  quibus  Albanum  Surrentinumque  recuset     O  15 
flava  ruinosi  lupa  degustare  sepulchri. 
horum  consiliis  nubunt  subitaeque  recedunt, 
his  languentem  animum  servant  et  seria  vitae, 
his  clunem  atque  latus  discunt  vibrare  magistris, 
quicquid  praeterea  scit  qui  docet.     haud  tamen 

illi  O  20 

semper  habenda  fides  :  oculos  fuligine  pascit 
distinctus  croceis  et  reticulatus  adulter, 
suspectus  tibi  sit  quanto  vox  mollior  et  quo 
saepius  in  teneris  haerebit  dextera  lumbis. 
hie  erit  in  lecto  fortissimus  :  exuit  illic  O  25 

personam  docili  Thais  saltata  Triphallo. 
"quern  rides  ?     aliis  hunc  mimum  !     sponsio  fiat : 
purum  te  contendo  virum.     contendo  :  fateris  ? 
an  vocat  ancillas  tortoris  pergula?  " 

Novi 
consilia  et  veteres  quaecumque  monetis  amici :    O  30 

1  p.seZ/ussoHousm.andOwen:  0  reads  psttlus :  Biich.  Psyl- 
lus.   Eupholio  0 :  Housm.  reads  euphono :  Biich.  conj.  Euhoplio. 

112 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 


01    a 


Whenever  a  cinaedus  is   kept  he  taints  the 
household.     Folks  let  these  fellows  eat  and  drink 
with   them,   and  merely  have  the    vessels    washed, 
not  shivered  to  atoms  as  they  should  be  when  such 
lips    have   touched   them.       So    even    the    lanista's 
establishment  is  better  ordered  than  yours,  for  he 
separates  the  vile  from  the  decent,  and  sequesters 
even  from  their  fellow-retiarii  the  wearers  of  the  ill- 
famed   tunic;    in  the    training-school,  and   even  in 
gaol,    such    creatures    herd    apart;    but    your    wife 
condemns  you  to  drink  out  of  the  same  cup  as  these 
gentry,  with  whom  the  poorest  trull  would  refuse  to 
sip  the    choicest  wine.     Them   do   women    consult 
about  marriage  and  divorce,  with  their  society  do 
they  relieve  boredom  or  business,  from  them  do  they 
learn  lascivious  motions  and  whatever  else  the  teacher 
knows.      But    beware!    that  teacher  is   not  always 
what   he    seems:    true,   he    darkens    his    eyes   and 
dresses  like  a  woman,  but   adultery  is  his  design. 
Mistrust  him  the  more  for  his  show  of  effeminacy; 
he  is  a  valiant   mattress-knight;    there   Triphallus 
drops  the  mask  of  Thais.     Whom  are  you  fooling?1 
not  me ;  play  this  farce  to  those  who  cannot  pierce 
the  masquerade.    I  wager  you  are  every  inch  a  man ; 
do  you  own  it,  or  must  we  wring  the  truth  out  of 
the  maid-servants  ?  " 

029  I  know  well  the  advice  and  warnings  of  my  old 
1  He  now  addresses  the  cinaedus  himself. 

8  0  reads  pulsatamque  arma  :  Housm.  conj.  pulsata  has- 
lamque :  pulsata  arcaque  Owen  :  pulsantemque  Postgate : 
Buch.  conj.  pulsaloremque  tridentem  and  compares  vi.  4u 

"3 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  VI 

"pone  seram,  cohibe."     sed  quis  custodiat1  ipsos 
custodes,  qui  nunc  lascivae  furta  puellae 
hac  mercede  silent  ?     crimen  commune  tacetur  : 
prospicit  hoc  prudens  et  ab  illis  incipit  uxor.  ...    034 

Sunt  quas  eunuchi  inbelles  ac  mollia  semper     366 
oscula  delectent  et  desperatio  barbae 
et  quod  abortivo  non  est  opus,     ilia  voluptas 
summa  tamen,  quod  iam  calida  matura  iuventa 
inguina  traduntur  medicis,  iam  pectine  nigro ;       370 
ergo  expectatos  ac  iussos  crescere  primum 
testiculos,  postquam  coeperunt  esse  bilibres, 
tonsoris  damno  tantum  rapit  Heliodorus.2 
conspicuus  longe  cunctisque  notabilis  intrat 
balnea  nee  dubie  custodem  vitis  et  horti  375 

provocat  a  domina  factus  spado,     dormiat  ille 
cum  domina,  sed  tu  iam  durum,  Postume,  iamque 
tondendum  eunucho  Bromium  committere  noli. 

Si  gaudet  cantu,  nullius  fibula  durat 
vocem  vendentis  praetoribus.     organa  semper       380 
in  manibus,  densi  radiant  testudine  tota 
sardonyches  ;  crispo  numerantur  pectine  chordae, 
quo  tener  Hedymeles  operas  dedit :  hunc  tenet, 

hoc  se 
solatur,  gratoque  indulget  basia  plectro. 
quaedam  de  numero  Lamiarum  ac  nominis  Appi   385 
et  farre  et  vino  Ianum  Vestamque  rogabat, 
an  Capitolinam  deberet  Pollio  quercum 
sperare  et  fidibus  promittere.     quid  faceret  plus 
aegrotante  viro,  medicis  quid  tristibus  erga 
filiolum  ?  stetit  ante  aram  nee  turpe  putavit  390 

pro  cithara  velare  caput  dictataque  verba 
pertulit,  ut  mos  est,  et  aperta  palluit  agna. 

1  0  here  reads  custodiat,  but  P^  have   cuslodiet  in   the 
repeated  passage,  line  347. 

114 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

friends  :  "  Put  on  a  lock  and  keep  your  wife  indoors." 
Yes,  and  who  will  ward  the  warders  ?  They  get  paid  in 
kind  for  holding  their  tongues  as  to  their  young  lady's 
escapades;  participation  seals  their  lips.     The  wily 
wife  arranges  accordingly,  and  begins  with  them.  .  .  . 
379  If  your  wife  is  musical,  none  of  those  who  sell 
their  voices  1  to  the  praetor  will  hold  out  against  her 
charms.     She  is  for  ever   handling  musical  instru- 
ments;   her    sardonyx    rings  sparkle  thick   all  over 
the  tortoise-shell ;    the  quivering  quill  with  which 
she  runs  over  the   chords  will  be  that  with  which 
the   gentle    Hedymeles    performed;    she    hugs   it, 
consoles  herself  with  it,  and  lavishes  kisses  on  the 
dear  implement.     A  certain  lady  of  the  lineage  of 
the  Lamiae  and  the  Appii2  inquired  of  Janus?  and 
Vesta,   with   offerings   of  cake   and    wine,  whether 
Pollio  could  hope  for  the  Capitoline  oak-chaplet  and 
promise  victory  to  his  lyre.3    What  more  could  she 
have  done  had  her  husband  been  ill,  or  if  the  doctors 
had  been  shaking  their  heads  over  her  dear  little 
son?     There  she  stood  before  the  altar,  thinkino-  it 
no  shame  to  veil  her  head4  on  behalf  of  a  harper; 
she  repeated,  in  due  form,  all  the  words  prescribed 
to  her;    her   cheek    blanched  when   the  lamb  was 
opened.     Tell  me  now,  I  pray,  O  father  Janus,  thou 

1  i.e.  professionals  who  sing  for  hire  on  public  occasions, 
i.e.  of  a  noble  family. 

•    Vf"  pr\Zl of  oak-.le.aves  wraa  given  at  the  agon  Capitolinus, 

instituted  by  Domitian.     Pollio  was  a  player  on  the  ciihara 

lo  veil  the  head  was  part  of  the  ceremony  at  a  sacrifice. 

2  Between  lines  373  and  374  the  MS.  0  gives  the  following 
'O  lines  ; — '  ° 


two  lines  : 


mangpnum  pueros  vera  ac  miserabilis  urit 
debilitas  follisque  pudet  cicerisquc  relicti. 


i  2 


JI5 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

die  mihi  nunc  quaeso,  die,  antiquissime  divom, 
respondes  his,  lane  pater  ?  magna  otia  eaeli ; 
non  est,  quod  video,  non  est  quod  agatur  aput  vos.  395 
haec  de  comoedis  te  consulit,  ilia  tragoedum 
commendare  volet,  varicosus  net  haruspex. 

Sed  cantet  potius  quam  totam  pervolet  urbem 
audax  et  coetus  possit  quae  ferre  virorum 
cumque  paludatis  ducibus  praesente  marito  400 

ipsa  loqui  recta  facie. siccisque  mamillis. 
haec  eadem  novit  quid  toto  fiat  in  orbe, 
quid  Seres,  quid  Thraces  agant,  secreta  novercae 
et  pueri,  quis  amet,  quis  diripiatur  adulter ; 
dicet  quis  viduam  praegnatem  fecerit  et  quo  405 

mense,  quibus  verbis  concumbat  quaeque,  modis  quot. 
instantem  regi  Armenio  Parthoque  cometen 
prima  videt,  famam  rumoresque  ilia  recentis 
excipit  ad  portas,  quosdam  facit ;  isse  Niphaten 
in  populos  magnoque  illic  cuncta  arva  *  teneri       410 
diluvio,  nutare  urbes,  subsidere  terras 
quocumque  in  trivio  cuicumque  est  obvia,  narrat. 
1  Nee  tamen  id  vitium  magis  intolerabile  quam  quae  2 
vicinos  humiles  rapere  et  concidere  loris 
exorata 3  solet.     nam  si  latratibus  alti  415 

rumpuntur  somni,  "  fustes  hue  ocius,"  inquit, 
"  adferte  "  atque  illis  dominum  iubet  ante  feriri, 
deinde  canem,  gravis  occursu,  taeterrima  vultu. 


1  arva  ^/ :  arma  P. 

2  quodty:  quae?.  ...... 

s  exorata  <J/ ,  exortata  P  Housm.  Buch.  (19 J  u). 


u6 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

most  ancient  of  the  Gods,  dost  thou  answer  such  as 
she  ?  You  have  much  time  on  your  hands  in  heaven  ; 
so  far  as  I  can  see,  there  is  nothing  for  you  Gods  to  do. 
One  lady  consults  you  about  a  comedian,  another 
wishes  to  commend  to  you  a  tragic  actor ;  the  sooth- 
sayer will  soon  be  troubled  with  varicose  veins.1 

398  Bettei',  however,  that  your  wife  should  be 
musical  than  that  she  should  be  rushing  boldly  about 
the  entire  city,  attending  men's  meetings,  talking 
with  unflinching  face  and  hard  breasts  to  Generals  in 
their  military  cloaks,  with  her  husband  looking  on  ! 
This  same  woman  knows  what  is  going  on  all  over 
the  world :  what  the  Thracians  and  Chinese  are 
after,  what  has  passed  between  the  stepmother  and 
the  stepson ;  she  knows  who  loves  whom,  what 
gallant  is  the  rage  ;  she  will  tell  you  who  got  the 
widow  with  child,  and  in  what  month  ;  how  every 
woman  behaves  to  her  lovers,  and  what  she  says  to 
them.  She  is  the  first  to  notice  the  comet  threaten- 
ing the  kings  of  Armenia  and  Parthia ;  she  picks  up 
the  latest  rumours  at  the  city  gates,  and  invents 
some  herself:  how  the  Niphates2  has  burst  out  upon 
the  nations,  and  is  inundating  entire  districts ;  how 
cities  are  tottering  and  lands  subsiding,  she  tells  to 
every  one  she  meets  at  every  street  crossing. 

413  No  less  insufferable  is  the  woman  who  loves  to 
catch  hold  of  her  poor  neighbours,  and  deaf  to  their 
cries  for  mercy  lays  into  them  with  a  whip.  If  her 
sound  slumbers  are  disturbed  by  a  barking  dog, 
"  Quick  with  the  rods!"  she  cries;  "thrash  the 
owner  first,  and  then  the  dog  !  "  She  is  a  formidable 
woman  to  encounter ;    she    is    terrible    to    look   at. 


i.e.  with  so  much  standing  about. 

Properly  a  mountain  ;  here  meant  for  a  river. 


"7 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  VI 

balnea  nocte  subit,  conchas  et  castra  moveri 

nocte  iubet,  magno  gaudet  sudare  tumultu,  420 

cum  lassata  gravi  ceciderunt  bracchia  massa, 

callidus  et  cristae  digitos  inpressit  aliptes 

ac  summum  dominae  femur  exclamare  coegit. 

convivae  miseri  interea  somnoque  fameque 

urguentur.    tandem  ilia  venit  rubicundula,  totum  425 

oenophorum  sitiens,  plena  quod  tenditur  urna 

admotum  pedibus,  de  quo  sextarius  alter 

ducitur  ante  cibum  rabidam  facturus  orexim, 

dum  redit  et  loto  terram  ferit  intestine 

marmoribus  rivi  properant,  aurata  Falernum  430 

pelvis  olet ;  nam  sic  tamquam  alta  in  dolia  longus 

deciderit  serpens,  bibit  et  vomit,     ergo  maritus 

nauseat  atque  oculis  bilem  substringit  opertis. 

Ilia  tamen  gravior,  quae  cum  discumbere  coepit, 
laudat  Vergilium,  periturae  ignoscit  Elissae,  435 

committit  vates  et  comparat,  inde  Maronem 
atque  alia  parte  in  trutina  suspendit  Homerum. 
cedunt  grammatici,  vincuntur  rhetores,  omnis 
turba  tacet,  nee  causidicus  nee  praeco  loquetur, 
altera  nee  mulier  ;  verborum  tanta  cadit  vis,  440 

tot  pariter  pelves  ac  tintinnabula  dicas 
pulsari.     iam  nemo  tubas,  nemo  aera  fatiget : 
una  laboranti  poterit  succurrere  Lunae. 
inponit  finem  sapiens  et  rebus  honestis ; 
nam  quae  docta  nimis  cupit  et  facunda  videri,       445 
crure  tenus  medio  tunicas  succingere  debet, 


i  Eclipses  of  the  moon  were  supposed  to  be  due  to  the 
incantations  of  witches.    To  prevent  these  from  being  heard 
and  so  ward  off  the  evil  events  portended  by  the  eclipse,  it 
was  the  custom  to  create  a  din  by  the  clashing  of  bells, 
horns  and  trumpets,  etc. 


n8 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

She  frequents  the  baths  by  night;  not  till  night 
does  she  order  her  oil-jars  and  her  quarters  to  be 
shifted  thither ;  she  loves  all  the  bustle  of  the  hot 
bath ;  when  her  arms  drop  exhausted  by  the  heavy 
weights,  the  anointer  passes  his  hand  skilfully  over 
her  body,  bringing  it  down  at  last  with  a  resounding 
smack  upon  her  thigh.  Meanwhile  her  unfortunate 
guests  are  overcome  with  sleep  and  hunger,  till  at 
last  she  comes  in  with  a  flushed  face,  and  with  thirst 
enough  to  drink  off  the  vessel  containing  full  three 
gallons  which  is  laid  at  her  feet,  and  from  which  she 
tosses  off  a  couple  of  pints  before  her  dinner  to 
create  a  raging  appetite ;  then  she  brings  it  all  up 
again  and  souses  the  floor  with  the  washings  of  her 
inside.  The  stream  runs  over  the  marble  pavement ; 
the  gilt  basin  reeks  of  Falernian,  for  she  drinks  and 
vomits  like  a  big  snake  that  has  tumbled  into  a  vat. 
The  sickened  husband  closes  his  eyes  and  so  keeps 
down  his  bile. 

434  But  most  intolerable  of  all  is  the  woman  who 
as  soon  as  she  has  sat  down  to  dinner  commends 
Virgil,  pardons  the  dying  Dido,  and  pits  the  poets 
against  each  other,  putting  Virgil  in  the  one  scale 
and  Homer  in  the  other.  The  grammarians  make 
way  before  her  ;  the  rhetoricians  give  in  ;  the  whole 
crowd  is  silenced  :  no  lawyer,  no  auctioneer  will  get 
a  word  in,  no,  nor  any  other  woman ;  so  torrential 
is  her  speech  that  you  would  think  that  all  the  pots 
and  bells  were  being  clashed  together.  Let  no 
one  more  blow  a  trumpet  or  clash  a  cymbal :  one 
woman  will  be  able  to  bring  succour  to  the  labouring 
moon ! *  She  lays  down  definitions,  and  discourses 
on  morals,  like  a  philosopher  ;  thirsting  to  be  deemed 
both  wise  and  eloquent,  she  ought  to  tuck  up  her 

119 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

caedere  Silvano  porcum,  quadrante  lavarl 

non  habeat  matrona,  tibi  quae  iuncta  recumbit, 

dicendi  genus  aut  curvum  sermone  rotato 

torqueat  enthymema,  nee  historias  sciat  omnes,     450 

sed  quaedam  ex  libris  et  non  intellegat.     odi 

banc  ego  quae  repetit  volvitque  Palaemonis  artem 

servata  semper  lege  et  ratione  loquendi 

ignotosque  mihi  tenet  antiquaria  versus 

nee  curanda  viris l  opicae  castigat  amicae  455 

verba  ;  soloecismum  bceat  fecisse  marito. 

Nil  non  permittit  mulier  sibi,  turpe  putat  nil, 
cum  virides  gemmas  collo  circumdedit  et  cum 
auribus  extentis  magnos  commisit  elencbos  ; 
intolerabilius  nihil  est  quam  femina  dives.  460 

interea  foeda  aspectu  ridendaque  multo 
pane  tumet  facies  aut  pinguia  Poppaeana 
spirat,  et  hinc  miseri  viscantur  labra  mariti : 
ad  moecbum  lota  veniunt  cute,     quando  videri 
vult  formosa  domi  ?     moechis  foliata  parantur,       465 
his  emitur  quid  quid  gi*aciles  hue  mittitis  Indi. 
tandem  aperit  vultum  et  tectoria  prima  reponit ; 
incipit  agnosci,  atque  illo  lacte  fovetur 
propter  quod  secum  comites  educit  asellas 
exul  Hyperboreum  si  dimittatur  ad  axem.  470 

1  Housm.  puts  a  full  stop  after  viris,  and  interprets : 
aliasque  res  virorum  cura  indignas.  Postgate  suggests,  after 
one  of  Ruperti's  MSS. ,  haec  curanda  viris  ? 

1  i.e.  wear  the  short  tunic  of  a  man. 

2  Only  men  sacrificed  to  Silvanus. 

3  i.e.  bathe  in  the  public  baths. 

*  A  treatise  on  grammar  by  Q.  Remmius  Palaemon,  the 
most  famous  grammarian  of  the  early  empire. 

120 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

skirts  knee-high,1  sacrifice  a  pig  to  Silvanus,2  and 
take  a  penny  bath.3  Let  not  the  wife  of  your  bosom 
possess  a  special  style  of  her  own ;  let  her  not  hurl 
at  you  in  whirling  speech  the  crooked  enthymeme  ! 
Let  her  not  know  all  history ;  let  there  be  some 
things  in  her  reading  which  she  does  not  under- 
stand. I  hate  a  woman  who  is  for  ever  consulting 
and  poring  over  the  "  Grammar "  of  Palaemon,4 
who  observes  all  the  rules  and  laws  of  language,  who 
quotes  from  ancient  poets  that  I  never  heard  of,  and 
corrects  her  unlettered 5  female  friends  for  slips  of 
speech  that  no  man  need  trouble  about :  let  hus- 
bands at  least  be  permitted  to  make  slips  in  grammar ! 
457  There  is  nothing  that  a  woman  will  not  permit 
herself  to  do,  nothing  that  she  deems  shameful,  when 
she  encii'cles  her  neck  with  green  emeralds,  and 
fastens  huge  pearls  to  her  elongated  ears  :  there  is  no- 
thing more  intolerable  than  a  wealthy  woman.  Mean- 
while she  ridiculously  puffs  out  and  disfigures  her  face 
with  lumps  of  dough  ;  she  reeks  of  rich  Poppaean 6 
unguents  which  stick  to  the  lips  of  her  unfortunate 
husband.  Her  lover  she  will  meet  with  a  clean- 
washed  skin ;  but  when  does  she  ever  care  to  look 
nice  at  home  ?  It  is  for  her  lovers  that  she  provides 
the  spikenard,  for  them  she  buys  all  the  scents  which 
the  slender  Indians  bring  to  us.  In  good  time  she 
discloses  her  face ;  she  removes  the  first  layer  of 
plaster,  and  begins  to  be  recognisable.  She  then  laves 
herself  with  that  milk  for  which  she  takes  a  herd 
of  she-asses  in  her  train  if  sent  away  to  the  Hyper- 

5  The  word  Opican  is  equivalent  to  Oscan,  denoting  the 
early  inhabitants  of  Campania.  It  is  used  here  as  equivalent 
to  barbarian. 

6  Cosmetics,  called  after  Nero's  wife  Poppaea. 

121 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

sed  quae  mutatis  inducitur  atque  fovetur 
tot  medicaminibus  coctaeque  siliginis  offas 
accipit  et  madidae,  facies  dicetur  an  ulcus  ? 

Est  pretium  curae  penitus  cognoscere  toto 
quid  faciant  agitentque  die.     si  nocte  maritus       475 
aversus  iacuit,  periit  libraria,  ponunt 
cosmetae  tunicas,  tarde  venisse  Liburnus 
dicitur  et  poenas  alieni  pendere  somni 
cogitur ;  hie  frangit  ferulas,  rubet  ille  flagello, 
hie  scutica  ;  sunt  quae  tortoribus  annua  praestent.  480 
verberat  atque  obiter  faciem  Unit,  audit  arnicas, 
aut  latum  pictae  vestis  considerat  aurum, 
et  caedit,  longi  relegit  transversa  diurni 
et  caedit,  donee  lassis  caedentibus  "  exi " 
intonet  horrendum  iam  cognitione  peracta.  485 

Praefectura  domus  Sicula  non  mitior  aula  ; 
nam  si  constituit  solitoque  decentius  optat 
ornari  et  properat  iamque  expectatur  in  hortis 
aut  aput  Isiacae  potius  sacraria  lenae, 
disponit  crinem  laceratis  ipsa  capillis  490 

nuda  umero  Psecas  infelix  nudisque  mamillis. 
"  altior  hie  quare  cincinnus?  "  taurea  punit 
continuo  flexi  crimen  facinusque  capilli. 
quid  Psecas  admisit  ?  quaenam  est  hie  culpa  puellae, 

1  «'.e.  the  husband's. 

2  The  text  reads  as  if  the  flogging  was  done  by  the  lady 
herself.     But  it  was  evidently  done  for  her  by  slaves. 

3  Books  were  usually  written  lengthwise  on  the  roll ;  but 
it  seems  that  the  acta  diurna,  here  mentioned,  were  written 
crosswise. 

122 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

borean  pole.  But  when  she  has  been  coated  over 
and  treated  with  all  those  layers  of  medicaments, 
and  had  those  lumps  of  moist  dough  applied  to  it, 
shall  we  call  it  a  face  or  a  sore  ? 

474  It  is  well  worth  while  to  ascertain  how  these 
ladies  busy  themselves  all  day.  If  the  husband  has 
turned  his  back  upon  his  wife  at  night,  the  wool- 
maid  is  done  for ;  the  tire-women  will  be  stripped  of 
their  tunics ;  the  Liburnian  chair-man  will  be  accused 
of  coming  late,  and  will  have  to  pay  for  another 
man's J  drowsiness ;  one  will  have  a  rod  broken  over 
his  back,  another  will  be  bleeding  from  a  strap,  a 
third  from  the  cat ;  some  women  engage  their  execu- 
tioners by  the  year.  While  the  flogging  goes  on, 
the  lady  will  be  daubing  her  face,  or  listening  to 
her  lady-friends,  or  inspecting  the  widths  of  a  gold- 
embroidered  robe.  While  thus  flogging  and  flog- 
ging,2 she  reads  the  lengthy  Gazette,  written  right 
across  the  page,3  till  at  last,  the  floggers  being  ex- 
hausted, and  the  inquisition  ended,  she  thunders  out 
a  gruff  "  Be  off  with  you  !  " 

4S(3  Her  household  is  governed  as  cruelly  as  a  Sici- 
lian Court.4  If  she  has  an  appointment  and  wishes 
to  be  turned  out  more  nicely  than  usual,  and  is  in 
a  hurry  to  meet  some  one  waiting  for  her  in  the 
gardens,  or  more  likely  near  the  chapel  of  the 
wanton  Isis,  the  unhappy  maid  that  does  her  hair 
will  have  her  own  hair  torn,  and  the  clothes  stripped 
off  her  shoulders  and  her  breasts.  "  Why  is  this  curl 
standing  up  ?  "  she  asks,  and  then  down  comes  a 
thonff  of  bull's  hide  to  inflict  chastisement  for  the 
offending  ringlet.  Pray  how  was  Psecas  in  fault? 
How  would  the  girl  be  to  blame  if  you   happened 

*  In  allusion  to  Phalaris,  tyrant  of  Agrigentum. 

123 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

si  tibi  displicuit  nasus  tuus  ?  altera  laevum  495 

extendit  pectitque  comas  et  volvit  in  orbem. 

est  in  consilio  materna  admotaque  lanis 

emerita  quae  cessat  acu  ;  sententia  prima 

huius  erit,  post  banc  aetate  atque  arte  minores 

censebunt,  tamquam  famae  discrimen  agatur  500 

aut  animae  :  tanta  est  quaerendi  cura  decoris, 

tot  premit  ordinibus,  tot  adhuc  conpagibus  altum 

aedifieat  caput ;  Andromacben  a  fronte  videbis  ; 

post  minor  est,  credas  aliam.     cedo  si  breve  parvi 

sortita  est  latei-is  spatium  breviorque  videtur         505 

virgine  Pygmaea  nullis  adiuta  cothurnis 

et  levis  erecta  consurgit  ad  oscula  planta. 

nulla  viri  cura  interea  nee  mentio  net 

damnorum.     vivit  tamquam  vicina  mariti, 

hoc  solo  propior  quod  amicos  coniugis  odit  510 

et  servos,  gravis  est  rationibus. 

Ecce  furentis 

Bellonae  matrisque  deum  chorus  intrat  et  ingens 

semivir,  obscaeno  facies  reverenda  minori, 

mollia  qui  rapta  secuit  genitalia  testa 

iam  pridem,  cui  rauca  cohors,  cui  tympana  cedunt,  515 

plebeia  et  Pbrygia  vestitur  bucca  tiara. 

grande  sonat  metuique  iubet  Septembris  et  Austri 

adventum,  nisi  se  centum  lustraverit  ovis 

et  xerampelinas  veteres  donaverit  ipsi, 

ut  quidquid  subiti  et  magni  discriminis  instat        520 

in  tunicas  eat  et  totum  semel  expiet  annum. 

hibernum  fracta  glacie  descendet  in  amnem, 

1  Hector's  wife  Andromache  must  be  tall,  as  living  in  the 
heroic  age. 

124 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

not  to  like  the  shape  of  your  own  nose  ?  Another 
maid  on  the  left  side  combs  out  the  hair  and  rolls  it 
into  a  coil ;  a  maid  of  her  mother's,  who  has  served 
her  time  at  sewing,  and  has  been  promoted  to  the 
wool  department,  assists  at  the  council.  She  is  the 
first  to  give  her  opinion ;  after  her,  her  inferiors  in 
age  or  skill  will  give  theirs,  as  though  some  question 
of  life  or  honour  were  at  stake.  So  important  is  the 
business  of  beautification  ;  so  numerous  are  the  tiers 
and  storeys  piled  one  upon  another  on  her  head ! 
In  front,  you  would  take  her  for  an  Andromache1 ; 
she  is  not  so  tall  behind :  you  would  not  think  it 
was  the  same  person.  What  if  nature  has  made  her 
so  short  of  stature  that,  if  unaided  by  high  heels, 
she  looks  no  bigger  than  a  pigmy,  and  has  to  rise 
nimbly  on  tip-toe  for  a  kiss  !  Meantime  she  pays  no 
attention  to  her  husband  ;  she  never  speaks  of  what 
she  costs  him.  She  lives  with  him  as  if  she  were 
only  his  neighbour ;  in  this  alone  more  near  to  him, 
that  she  hates  his  friends  and  his  slaves,  and  plays 
the  mischief  with  his  money. 

511  And  now,  behold !  in  comes  the  chorus  of  the 
frantic  Bellona  and  the  mother  of  the  Gods,  attended 
by  a  giant  eunuch  to  whom  his  obscene  inferiors 
must  do  reverence.  .  .  .  Before  him  the  howling  herd 
with  the  timbrels  give  way  ;  his  plebeian  cheeks  are 
covered  with  a  Phrygian  tiara.  With  solemn  utter- 
ance he  bids  the  lady  beware  of  the  September 
Siroccos  if  she  do  not  purify  herself  with  a  hundred 
eggs,  and  present  him  with  some  old  mulberry-coloured 
garments  in  order  that  any  great  and  unforeseen 
calamity  may  pass  into  the  clothes,  and  make  ex- 
piation for  the  entire  year.  In  winter  she  will  go 
down  to  the  river  of  a  morning,  break  the  ice,  and 

125 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  VI 

ter  matutino  Tiberi  mergetur  et  ipsis 

verticibus  timidum  caput  abluet,  inde  superbi 

totum  regis  agrum  nuda  ac  tremibunda  cruentis    525 

erepet  genibus  ;  si  Candida  iusserit  Io, 

ibit  ad  Aegypti  finem  calidaque  petitas 

a  Meroe  povtabit  aquas  ut  spargat  in  aede 

IsidiSj  antiquo  quae  proxima  surgit  ovili. 

credit  enim  ipsius  dominae  se  voce  moneri :  530 

en  animam  et  mentem  cum  qua  di  nocte  loquantur ! 

ergo  hie  praecipuum  summumque  meretur  honorem, 

qui  grege  linigero  circumdatus  et  grege  calvo 

plangentis  populi  currit  derisor  Anubis. 

ille  petit  veniam,  quotiens  non  abstinet  uxor         535 

concubitu  sacris  observandisque  diebus 

magnaque  debetur  violato  poena  cadurco 

et  movisse  caput  visa  est  argentea  serpens ; 

illius  lacrimae  meditataque  murmura  praestant 

ut  veniara  culpae  non  abnuat,  ansere  magno  540 

scilicet  et  tenui  popano  corruptus,  Osiris. 

Cum  dedit  ille  locum,  cophino  faenoque  relicto 
arcanam  Iudaea  tremens  mendicat  in  aurem, 
interpres  legum  Solymarum  et  magna  sacerdos 
arboris  ac  summi  fida  internuntia  caeli.  545 

implet  et  ilia  manum,  set  parcius ;  aere  minuto 
qualiacumque  voles  Iudaei  somnia  vendunt. 

1  i.e.  the  Campus  Martius. 

2  Apparently  here  identified  with  Isis.  Io  was  changed 
into  a  white  cow  by  Juno  out  of  jealousy. 

3  An  island  formed  by  the  waters  of  the  Nile.    See  xiij.  163. 

4  The  Temple  of  Isis  was  in  the  Campus  Martius  near  the 
polling-booths  (saepta)  here  called  ovile. 

6  A  god  of  the  dead ;  he  attended  on  Isis,  and  is  repre- 
sented with  the  head  of  a  dog. 

6  The  priest  who  personates  Anubis  laughs  at  the  people 
when  they  lament  Osiris. 

126 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  VI 

plunge  three  times  into  the  Tiber,  dipping  her 
trembling  head  in  its  whirling  waters,  and  crawling 
out  thence  naked  and  shivering,  she  will  creep  with 
bleeding  knees  right  across  the  field x  of  Tarquin 
the  Proud.  If  the  white  Io  2  shall  so  order,  she  will 
journey  to  the  confines  of  Egypt,  and  fetch  water 
from  hot  Meroe3  with  which  to  sprinkle  the  Temple 
of  Isis  which  stands  hard  by  the  ancient  sheepfold.4 
For  she  believes  that  the  command  was  given  by  the 
voice  of  the  Goddess  herself — a  pretty  kind  of  mind 
and  spirit  for  the  Gods  to  have  converse  with  by 
night !  Hence  the  chief  and  highest  place  of  honour 
is  awarded  to  Anubis,5  who,  with  his  linen-clad  and 
shaven  crew,  mocks  at  the  weeping  of  the  people  as 
he  runs  along.6  He  it  is  that  obtains  pardon  for 
wives  who  break  the  law  of  purity  on  days  that 
should  be  kept  holy,  and  exacts  huge  penalties 
when  the  coverlet  has  been  profaned,  or  when  the 
silver  serpent  has  been  seen  to  nod  his  head.  His 
teai-s  and  carefully-studied  mutterings  make  sure 
that  Osiris  will  not  refuse  a  pardon  for  the  fault, 
bribed,  no  doubt,  by  a  fat  goose  and  a  slice  of 
sacrificial   cake. 

642  No  sooner  has  that  fellow  departed  than  a 
palsied  Jewess,  leaving  her  basket  and  her  truss  of 
hay,7  comes  begging  to  her  secret  ear ;  she  is  an  in- 
terpreter of  the  laws  of  Jerusalem,  a  high  priestess 
of  the  tree,8  a  trusty  go-between  of  highest  heaven. 
She,  too,  fills  her  palm,  but  more  sparingly,  for  a 
Jew  will  tell  you  dreams  of  any  kind  you  please  for 
the  minutest  of  coins. 

7  See  iii.  14  :  Iuclaei  quorum  cophinus  faenumque  supellcx. 

8  Jews  were  allowed  to  camp  out  under  trees  as  gipsies  do 
in  our  own  country.     See  iii.  15,  16. 

127 


IVVENALIS  SATVRA   VI 

Spondet  amatorem  tenerum  vel  divitis  orbi 
testamentum  ingens  calidae  pulmone  columbae 
tractato  Armenius  vel  Commagenus  haruspex  ;      550 
pectora  pullorum  rimabitur,  exta  catelli, 
interdum  et  pueri ;  faciet  quod  deferat  ipse. 
Chaldaeis  set  maior  erit  fiducia :  quidquid 
dixerit  astrologus,  credent  a  fonte  relatum 
Hammonis,  quoniarii  Delphis  oracula  cessant         555 
et  genus  humanum  damnat  caligo  futuri. 
praecipuus  tamen  est  horum,  qui  saepius  exul, 
cuius  amicitia  conducendaque  tabella 
mao-nus  civis  obit  et  formidatus  Othoni.1 
inde  fides  artis,  sonuit  si  dextera  ferro  560 

laevaque,  si  longe  castrorum  in  earcere  mansit. 
nemo  mathematicus  genium  indemnatus  habebit, 
sed  qui  paene  perit,  cui  vix  in  Cyclada  mitti 
contigit  et  parva  tandem  caruisse  Seripho. 

Consulit  ictericae  lento  de  funere  matris,  565 

ante  tamen  de  te  Tanaquil  tua,  quando  sororem 
efferat  et  patruos,  an  sit  victurus  adulter 
post  ipsam  :  quid  enim  maius  dare  numina  possunt  ? 
haec  tamen  ignorat 2  quid  sidus  triste  minetur 
Saturni,  quo  laeta  Venus  se  proferat  astro,  570 

quis  mensis  damnis,  quae  dentur  tempora  lucro  : 

i  Lines  558-9  are  omitted  in  some  MSS.,  and  seem  out  of 

P  *haeceignorat  GLOU:    haec  ignorant  T:    hae    ignorant 
Biich  (1S93). 

i  According  to  Tac.  Hist.  i.  22  the  name  of  Otho's  astro- 
loger was  Ptolemy.  2  The  emperor  Galba. 

128 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

548  An  Armenian  or  Commagenian  sooth-sayer, 
after  examining  the  lungs  of  a  dove  that  is  still 
warm,  will  promise  a  youthful  lover,  or  a  big  bequest 
from  some  rich  and  childless  man ;  he  will  probe 
the  breast  of  a  chicken,  or  the  entrails  of  a  dog, 
sometimes  even  of  a  boy ;  some  things  he  will  do 
with  the  intention  of  informing  against  them  himself. 

553  Still  more  trusted  are  the  Chaldaeans ;  every 
word  uttered  by  the  astrologer  they  will  believe  has 
come  from  Hammon's  fountain,  for  now  that  the  Del- 
phian oracles  are  dumb,  man  is  condemned  to  darkness 
as  to  his  future.  Chief  among  these  was  one1  who  was 
oft  in  exile,  through. whose  friendship  and  venal  pro- 
phecies the  great  citizen2  died  whom  Otho  feared. 
For  nowadays  no  astrologer  has  credit  unless  he  have 
been  imprisoned  in  some  distant  camp,  with  chains 
clanking  on  either  arm  ;  none  believe  in  his  powers  un- 
less he  has  been  condemned  and  all  but  put  to  death, 
having  just  contrived  to  get  deported  to  a  Cyclad,  or 
to  escape  at  last  from  the  diminutive  Seriphos.3 

565  Your  excellent  Tanaquil 4  consults  as  to  the 
long-delayed  death  of  her  jaundiced  mother — having 
previously  enquired  about  your  own ;  she  will  ask 
when  she  may  expect  to  bury  her  sister,  or  her 
uncles ;  and  whether  her  lover  will  outlive  herself — 
what  greater  boon  could  the  Gods  bestow  upon  her? 
And  yet  your  Tanaquil  does  not  herself  understand 
the  gloomy  threats  of  Saturn,  or  under  what  constella- 
tion Venus  will  show  herself  propitious,  which  months 
will  be  months  of  losses,  which  of  gains  ;  but  beware 

3  One  of  the  smaller  Cyclades  (Serpho),  a  well-known  place 
of  exile. 

4  i.e.  his  wife.     Tanaquil  was  wife  of   Tarquinius  Priscus 
{perita  caekslium  prodigiorum,  Liv.  i.  34). 

129 
K 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

illius  occursus  etiam  vitare  memento, 

in  cuius  manibus  ceu  pinguia  sucina  tritas 

cernis  ephemeridas,  quae  nullum  consulit  et  iam 

consulitur,  quae  castra  viro  patriamque  petente     575 

non  ibit  pariter  numeris  revocata  Thrasylli. 

ad  primum  lapidem  vectari  cum  placet,  hora 

sumitur  ex  libro  ;  si  prurit  frictus  ocelli 

angulus,  inspecta  genesi  collyria  poscit ; 

aegra  licet  iaceat,  capiendo  nulla  videtur  580 

aptior  hora  cibo  nisi  quam  dederit  Petosiris. 

Si  mediocris  erit,  spatium  lustrabit  utrimque 
metarum  et  sortes  ducet  frontemque  manumque 
praebebit  vati  crebrum  poppysma  roganti. 
divitibus  responsa  dabit l  Phryx  augur,  et  Indus  2    585 
conductus,  dabit  astrorum  mundique  peritus 
atque  aliquis  senior  qui  publica  fulgura  condit : 
plebeium  in  circo  positum  est  et  in  aggere  fatum ; 
quae  nudis  longum  ostendit  cervicibus  aurum 
consulit  ante  falas  delplnnorumque  columnas         590 
an  saga  vendenti  nubat  caupone  relicto. 

Hae  tamen  et  partus  subeunt  discrimen  et  omnis 
nutricis  tolerant  fortuna  urguente  labores  ; 

i  dabit  ¥G:  dabunt  FTU.  . 

»  indus  Brit.  15  u  xvii:  hide  P^  :  ^.\U:nSn.a.nd 
Btich.  (1893)  Indae:  Housm.  arid  Buch.  (1910)  indt. 
Housm.  thinks  a  line  has  dropped  out, 

i  Roman  ladiea  carried  balls  of  amber  in  their  hands, 
either  as  a  scent  or  for  warmth. 

*  The  favourite  astrologer  of  Tiberius. 
3  An  ancient  Egyptian  astrologer. 

*  The  metae  were  the  turning-posts  at  each  end  ot  tbe  low 
wall  («r»na)  round  which  the  chariots  had  to  turn.  Each  mela 
consisted  of  a  group  of  conical  pillars  with  dolphins  on  them. 

6  Poppysma  is  a  smacking  sound  made  by  the  lips  ;  it  was 

130 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

of  ever  encountering  one  whom  you  see  clutching  a 
well-worn  calendar  in  her  hands  as  if  it  were  a  ball 
of  clammy  amber 1 ;  one  who  inquires  of  none,  but  is 
now  herself  inquired  of;  one  who,  if  her  husband  is 
going  forth  to  camp,  or  returning  home  from  abroad, 
will  not  bear  him  company  if  the  numbers  of  Thrasyl- 
lus 2  call  her  back.  If  she  wants  to  drive  as  far  as 
the  first  mile-stone,  she  finds  the  right  hour  from 
her  book ;  if  there  is  a  sore  place  in  the  corner  of 
her  eye,  she  will  not  call  for  a  salve  until  she  has 
consulted  her  horoscope:  and  if  she  be  ill  in  bed, 
deems  no  hour  so  suitable  for  taking  food  as  that 
prescribed  to  her  by  Petosiris.3 

582  If  the  woman  be  of  humble  rank,  she  will  pro- 
menade between  the  turning-posts 4  of  the  Circus ; 
she  will  have  her  fortune  told,  and  will  present  her 
brow  and  her  hand  to  the  seer  who  asks  for  many 
an  approving  smack.6  Wealthy  women  will  pay  for 
answers  from  a  Phrygian  or  Indian  augur  well 
skilled  in  the  stars  and  the  heavens,  or  one  of  the 
elders  employed  to  expiate  thunderbolts.  Plebeian 
destinies  are  determined  in  the  Circus  or  on  the 
ramparts  6 :  the  woman 7  who  displays  a  long  gold 
chain  on  her  bare  neck  inquires  before  the  pillars 
and  the  clusters  of  dolphins  whether  she  shall 
throw  over  the  tavern-keeper  and  marry  the  old- 
clothes-man. 

592  These  poor  women,  however,  endure  the  perils 
of  child-birth,  and  all  the  troubles  of  nursing  to 
which   their   lot    condemns   them ;    but   how    often 

apparently  a    sign   of    approval    and    satisfaction.      These 
sounds  are  made  by  the  consulting  party. 

6  The  famous  rampart  of  Servius  Tullius,  wmen  protected 
Rome  on  its  eastern  side. 

7  Apparently  alluding  to  a  low  class  of  women. 

131 
K    2 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

sed  iacet  aurato  vix  ulla  puerpera  lecto. 
tantum  avtes  huius,  tantum  medicamina  possunt,  595 
quae  steriles  facit  atque  homines  in  ventre  necandos 
conducit.     gaude,  infelix,  atque  ipse  bibendum 
porrige  quidquid  erit ;  nam  si  distendere  vellet 
et  vexare  uterum  pueris  salientibus,  esses 
Aethiopis  fortasse 'pater,  mox  decolor  heres 
impleret  tabulas  numquam  tibi  mane  videndus. 

Transeo  suppositos  et  gaudia  votaque  saepe 
ad  spurcos  decepta  lacus,  atque  inde  petitos 
pontifices,  salios  Scaurorum  nomina  falso 
corpore  laturos.     stat  Fortuna  inproba  noctu         605 
adridens  nudis  infantibus  ;  bos  fovet  omnes l 
involvitque  sinu,  domibus  tunc  porrigit  altis 
secretumque  sibi  mimum  parat ;  hos  amat,  his  se 
ino-erit  utque  suos  semper  producit  alumnos. 

Hie  magicos  adfert  cantus,  hie  Thessala  yendit  610 
philtra,  quibus  valeat  mentem  vexare  mariti 
et  solea  pulsare  natis :  quod  desipis,  inde  est, 
inde  animi  caligo  et  magna  oblivio  rerum 
quas  modo  gessisti.     tamen  hoc  tolerabile,  si  non- 
et furere  incipias  ut  avunculus  ille  Neronis,  615 
cui  totam  tremuli  frontem  Caesonia  pulli 

1  omnes  4> :  omni  PT  and  most  edd.  _ 

>  Some  MSS.  here  insert  three  lines  not  given  above  (one 
MS  places  them  after  601).  See  Housm.  on  this  passage, 
and  also  in  C.R.  vol.  xv.  265  aqq.     See  also  Owen  s  note. 

i  These  were  pools  or  reservoirs  in  which  infanta  were 
exposed.  Fortune  delights  in  spiriting  these  foundlings  into 
the  houses  of  the  great. 

a  The  priests  of  Mars,  recruited  from  noble  families. 

a  Thessaly  was  famous  for  witches  and  the  magic  art. 
The  husband  here  is  made  mad  by  a  love-potion. 

132 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

does  a  gilded  bed  contain  a  woman  that  is  lying  in  ? 
So  great  is  the  skill,  so  powerful  the  drugs,  of  the 
abortionist,  paid  to  murder  mankind  within  the  womb. 
Rejoice,  poor  wretch ;  give  her  the  stuff  to  drink 
whatever  it  be,  with  your  own  hand  :  for  were  she 
willing  to  get  big  and  trouble  her  womb  with 
bouncing  babes,  you  might  perhaps  find  yourself  the 
father  of  an  Ethiopian ;  and  some  day  a  coloured 
heir,  whom  you  would  rather  not  meet  by  daylight, 
would  fill  all  the  places  in  your  will. 

602  I  say  nothing  of  supposititious  children,  of  the 
hopes  and  prayers  so  often  cheated  at  those  filthy 
pools1  from  which  are  supplied  Priests  and  Salii,2 
with  bodies  that  will  falsely  bear  the  name  of 
Scauri.  There  Fortune  shamelessly  takes  her  stand 
by  night,  smiling  on  the  naked  babes ;  she  fondles 
them  all  and  folds  them  in  her  bosom,  and  then, 
to  provide  herself  with  a  secret  comedy,  she  sends 
them  forth  to  the  houses  of  the  great.  These  are 
the  children  that  she  loves,  on  these  she  lavishes 
herself,  and  with  a  laugh  brings  them  always  for- 
ward as  her  own. 

610  One  man  supplies  magical  spells  ;  another  sells 
Thessalian3  charms  by  which  a  wife  may  upset 
her  husband's  mind,  and  lather  his  buttocks  with 
a  slipper;  thence  come  loss  of  reason,  and  dark- 
ness of  soul,  and  blank  forgetfulness  of  all  that 
you  did  but  yesterday.  Yet  even  that  can  be  en- 
dured, if  only  you  become  not  raving  mad  like 
that  uncle  i  of  Nero's  into  whose  drink  Caesonia 
poured  the  whole  brow  of  a  weakly  foal  5 ;  and  what 

4  The  emperor  Caligula.  His  wife  Caesonia  was  said  to 
have  made  him  mad  by  a  love-philtre. 

6  Alluding  to  the  hippomanea,  an  excrescence  on  the  head 
of  a  young  foal,  which  was  used  in  love-potiona. 

133 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VI 

infudit.  quae  non  faciet  quod  principis  uxor  ? 

avdebant  cuncta  et  fracta  conpage  ruebant, 

non  aliter  quam  si  fecisset  Iuno  maritum 

insanum.     minus  ergo  nocens  erit  Agrippinae       620 

boletus,  siquidem  unius  praecordia  pressit 

ille  senis  tremulumque  caput  descendere  iussit 

in  caelum  et  longa  manantia  labra  saliva  ; 

haec  poscit  ferrum.atque  ignes,  baec  potio  torquet, 

baec  lacerat  mixtos  equitum  cum  sanguine  patres.  625 

tanti  partus  equae,  tanti  una  venefica  constat. 

Oderunt  natos  de  paelice  :  nemo  repugnet, 
nemo  vetet,  iam  iam  privignum  occidere  fas  est. 
vos  ego,  pupilli,  moneo,  quibus  amplior  est  res, 
custodite  animas  et  nulli  credite  mensae  :  630 

livida  materno  fervent  adipata  veneno. 
mordeat  ante  aliquis  quidquid  porrexerit  ilia 
quae  peperit,  timidus  praegustet  pocula  papas. 

Fingimus  haec  altum  satura  sumente  cothurnum 
scilicet,  et  finem  egressi  legemque  priorum  635 

grande  Sophocleo  carmen  bacchamur  hiatu, 
montibus  ignotum  Rutulis  caeloque  Latino  ? 
nos  utinam  vani.     set  clamat  Pontia  "  feci, 
confiteor,  puerisque  meis  aconita  paravi, 
quae  deprensa  patent ;  facinus  tamen  ipsa  peregi."  640 
tune  duos  una,  saevissima  vipera,  cena  ? 
tune  duos  ?  "  septem,  si  septem  forte  fuissent !  " 

1  A^rippina  the  younger  murdered  her  husband,  the  Em- 
peror °Claudius,  by  a  dish  of  mushrooms  (Tac.  Ann.  xu.  57, 
Suet.  44).     See  v.  147. 

*34 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VI 

woman  will  not  follow  when  an  Empress  leads  the 
way  ?  The  whole  world  was  ablaze  then  and  falling 
down  in  ruin  just  as  if  Juno  had  made  her  husband 
mad.  Less  guilty  therefore  will  Agrippina's  mush- 
room1 be  deemed,  seeing  that  it  only  stopped  the 
breath  of  one  old  man,  and  sent  down  his  palsied 
head  and  slobbering  lips  to  heaven,  whereas  the 
other  potion  demanded  fire  and  sword  and  torture, 
mingling  Knights  and  Fathers  in  one  mangled 
bleeding  heap.  Such  was  the  cost  of  one  mare's 
offspring  and  of  one  she-poisoner. 

627  A  wife  hates  the  children  of  a  concubine ;  let 
none  demur  or  forbid,  seeing  that  it  has  long  been 
deemed  right  and  proper  to  slay  a  stepson.  But  I 
warn  you  wards — you  that  have  a  good  estate — keep 
watch  over  your  lives  ;  trust  not  a  single  dish  :  those 
hot  cakes  are  black  with  poison  of  a  mother's  baking. 
Whatever  is  offered  you  by  the  mother,  let  someone 
taste  it  first ;  let  your  trembling  tutor  take  the  first 
taste  of  every  cup. 

634  Noav  think  you  that  all  this  is  a  fancy  tale,  and 
that  our  Satire  is  taking  to  herself  the  high  heels 
of  tragedy?  Think  you  that  I  have  out-stepped 
the  limits  and  the  laws  of  those  before  me,  and  am 
mouthing  in  Sophoclean  tones  a  grand  theme  un- 
known to  the  Rutulian  hills  and  the  skies  of  Latium  ? 
Would  indeed  that  my  words  were  idle  !  But  here  is 
Pontia  proclaiming  "  I  did  the  deed  ;  I  gave  aconite, 
I  confess  it,  to  my  own  children;  the  crime  was 
detected,  and  is  known  to  all;  yes,  with  my  own 
hands  I  did  it."  "What,  you  most  savage  of  vipers? 
you  killed  two,  did  you,  two,  at  a  single  meal?" 
"  Aye,  and  seven  too,  had  there  chanced  to  be  seven 
to  kill ! " 

135 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VII 

Credamus  tragicis  quidquid  de  Colchide  torva 
dicitur  et  Progne  ;  nil  contra  conor.     et  illae 
grandia  monstra  suis  audebant  temporibus,  sed     645 
non  propter  nummos  ;  minor  admiratio  summis 
debetur  monstris,  quotiens  facit  ira  nocentes 
hunc  sexum  et  rabie  iecur  incendente  feruntur 
praecipites,  ut  saxa  iugis  abrupta,  quibus  mons 
subtrahitur  clivoque  latus  pendente  recedit :  650 

illam  ego  non  tulerim,  quae  conputat  et  scelus  ingens 
sana  facit.     spectant  subeuntem  fata  mariti 
Alcestim,  et  similis  si  permutatio  detur, 
morte  viri  cupiant  animam  servare  catellae. 
occurrent  multae  tibi  Belides  atque  Eriphylae       655 
mane,  Clytaeinestram  null  us  non  vicus  habebit. 
hoc  tantum  refert,  quod  Tyndaris  ilia  bipennem 
insulsam  et  fatuam  dextra  laevaque  tenebat, 
at  nunc  res  agitur  tenui  pulmone  rubetae  ; 
sed  tamen  et  ferro,  si  praegustabit  *  Atrides  660 

Pontica  ter  victi  cautus  medicamina  regis. 

SATVRA  VII 

Et  spes  et  ratio  studiorum  in  Caesare  tantum ; 

solus  enim  tristes  hac  tempestate  Camenas 

1  praegmtabit  PSG :  praegustaret  $  :  praegustarit  Markl. 
and  Housm. 

1  Medea. 

2  Procne,  daughter  of  Pandion,  king  of  Athens,  revenged 
herself  on  her  husband,  Tereus,  by  serving  up  to  him  the 
flesh  of  his  son  Itys.     She  was  turned  into  a  swallow. 

136 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VII 

648  Let  us  believe  all  that  Tragedy  tells  us  of  the 
savage  Colchian l  and  of  Procne 2  ;  I  seek  not  to 
gainsay  her.  Those  women  were  monsters  of  wicked- 
ness in  their  day ;  but  it  was  not  for  money  that 
they  sinned.  We  marvel  less  at  great  crimes  when 
it  is  wrath  that  incites  the  sex  to  the  guilty  deed, 
when  burning  passion  carries  them  headlong,  like 
a  rock  torn  from  a  mountain  side,  when  the  ground 
beneath  gives  way,  and  the  overhanging  slopes  fall 
in.  I  cannot  endure  the  woman  who  calculates,  and 
commits  a  great  crime  in  her  sober  senses.  Our  wives 
look  on  at  Alcestis  undergoing  her  husband's  fate ; 
if  they  were  granted  a  like  liberty  of  exchange,  they 
would  fain  let  the  husband  die  to  save  a  lap-dog's 
life.  You  will  meet  a  daughter  of  Belus  3  or  an  Eri- 
phyle  every  morning  :  no  street  but  has  its  Clytem- 
nestra.4  The  only  difference  is  this :  the  daughter 
of  Tyndareus  5  wielded  in  her  two  hands  a  clumsy 
two-headed  axe,  whereas  nowadays  a  slice  of  a  toad's 
lung  will  do  the  business.  Yet  it  may  be  done  by 
steel  as  well,  if  the  wary  husband  have  beforehand 
tasted  the  medicaments  of  the  thrice-conquered  king 
of  Pontus.6 

SATIRE  VII 

Learning  and  Letters  Unprofitable 

On  Caesar  alone  hang  all  the  hopes  and  prospects 
of  the  learned  ;  he  alone  in  these  days  of  ours  has 
cast  a  favouring  glance  upon  the  sorrowing  Muses — 

3  Belus  was  the  father  of  Danaus  ;  hence  the  Danaids  are 
called  Belidae. 

4  The  Danaids  (daughters  of  Danaus),  Eriphvle,  and 
Clytemnestra,  all  killed  their  husbands. 

5  Clytemnestra  was  daughter  of  Tyndareus. 

6  Mithridates,  who  was  said  to  have  secured  himself  against 
poisoning  by  prophylactics. 

137 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VII 

respexit,  cum  iam  celebres  notique  poetae 
balneolum  Gabiis,  Romae  conducere  furnos 
temptarent,  nee  foedum  alii  nee  tuvpe  putarent         5 
praecones  fieri,  cum  desertis  Aganippes 
vallibus  esuriens  migraret  in  atria  Clio  ; 
nam  si  Pieria  quadrans  tibi  nullus  in  umbra 
ostendatur,  ames  nomen  victumque  Machaerae 
et  vendas  potius  commissa  quod  auctio  vendit         10 
stantibus,  oenopborum  tripedes  armaria  cistas, 
Alcitheon  Pacci,  Thebas  et  Terea  Fausti.  ^ 
hoc  satius  quam  si  dicas  sub  iudice  "  vidi " 
quod  non  vidisti,  faciant  equites  Asiani 
[quamquam    et    Cappadoces  faciant    equitesque 

Bithyni,]  15 

altera  quos  nudo  traducit  Gallia  talo. 

Nemo  tamen  studiis  indignum  ferre  labovem 
cogetur  posthac,  nectit  quicumque  canoris 
eloquium  vocale  modis  laurumque  momordit. 
hoc  agite,  o  iuvenes.     circumspicit  et  stimulat  vos   20 
materiamque  sibi  ducis  indulgentia  quaerit. 
si  qua  aliunde  putas  rerum  expectanda  tuarum 
praesidia  atque  ideo  croceae  membrana  tabellae 
impletur,  lignorum  aliquid  posce  ocius  et  quae 
componis  dona  Veneris,  Telesine,  marito, 
aut  elude  et  positos  tinea  pertunde  libellos. 
frange  miser  calamum  vigilataque  proelia  dele, 
qui  facis  in  parva  sublimia  carmina  cella, 
ut  dignus  venias  hederis  et  imagine  macra. 
spes  nulla  ulterior ;  didicit  iam  dives  avarus 
tantum  admirari,  tantum  laudare  disertos, 

i  An  inspiring  spring  on  Mt.  Helicon,  sacred  to  the  Muses. 

2  Apparently  an  auctioneer.  3  Apparently  names  of 

tragedies.  4  Easterns  originally  imported  as  slaves,  who  had 
risen  to  be  equity.       6  t.  e.  as  slaves  from  Galatia.        Vulcan. 

138 


25 


30 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VII 

at  a  time  when  poets  of  name  and  fame  thought  of 
hiring  baths  at  Gabii,  or  bakehouses  in  Rome,  while 
others  felt  no  shame  in  becoming  public  criers,  and 
starving  Clio  herself,  bidding  adieu  to  the  vales  of 
Aganippe,1  was  flitting  to  the  auction  rooms.  For  if 
you  see  no  prospect  of  earning  a  groat  within  the 
Muses'  grove,  you  had  better  put  up  with  Machaera's  2 
name  and  profits  and  join  in  the  battle  of  the 
sale-room,  selling  to  the  crowd  winejars,  tripods, 
book-cases  and  cupboards — the  Alcithoe  of  Paccius, 
the  Thebes  or  the  Tereus3  of  Faustus  !  How  much 
better  that  than  to  say  before  a  judge  "  I  saw  "  what 
you  did  not  see  !  Leave  that  to  the  Knights  of  Asia,4 
of  Bithynia  and  Cappadocia — gentry  that  were  im- 
ported bare-footed  5  from  New  Gaul  ! 
/u  But  from  this  day  forth  no  man  who  weaves  the 
tuneful  web  of  song  and  has  bitten  Apollo's  laurel 
will  be  compelled  to  endure  toil  unworthy  of  his 
craft.  To  your  task,  young  men !  Your  Prince  is 
looking  around  and  goading  you  on,  seeking  objects 
for  his  favour.  If  you  expect  patronage  from  any  other 
quarter,  and  in  that  hope  are  filling  up  the  parchment 
of  your  saffron  tablet,  you  had  better  order  faggots 
at  once,  Telesinus,  and  present  your  productions  to 
the  spouse6  of  Venus  ;  or  else  put  away  your  tomes, 
and  let  bookworms  bore  holes  in  them  where  they 
lie.  Break  your  pen,  poor  wretch  ;  destroy  the  battles 
that  have  robbed  you  of  your  sleep — you  that  are 
inditing  lofty  strains  in  a  tiny  garret,  that  you  may 
come  forth  worthy  of  a  scraggy  bust 7  wreathed  with 
ivy  !  No  hope  have  you  beyond  that ;  your  rich  miser 
has  now  learnt  only  to  admire,  only  to  commend  the 

7  The  busts  of  poets  were  wreathed  with   ivy  (doctarum 
hederae  praemiafrontium,  Hor.  Od.  I.  i.  29). 

139 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  VII 

ut  pueri  Iunonis  avem.     sed  defluit  aetas 
et  pelagi  patiens  et  cassidis  atque  ligonis. 
taedia  tunc  subeunt  animos,  tunc  seque  suamque 
Terpsichoren  odit  facunda  et  nuda  senectus.  35 

Accipe  nunc  artes  ne  quid  tibi  conferat  iste 
quern  colis  et  Musarum  et  Apollinis  aede  relicta. 
ipse  facit  versus,  atque  uni  cedit  Homero 
propter  mille  annos.     et  si  dulcedine  famae 
succensus  recites,  maculosas l  commodat  aedes  ;       40 
haec  longe  ferrata  domus  servire  iubetur, 
in  qua  sollicitas  imitatur  ianua  portas. 
scit  dare  libertos  extrema  in  parte  sedentis 
ordinis  et  magnas  comitum  disponere  voces  : 
nemo  dabit  regum  quanti  subsellia  constant  45 

et  quae  conducto  pendent  anabathra  tigillo, 
quaeque  reportandis  posita  est  orchestra  cathedris. 
nos  tamen  hoc  agimus  tenuique  in  pulvere  sulcos 
ducimus  et  litus  sterili  versamus  aratro. 
nam  si  discedas,  laqueo  tenet  ambitiosi  50 

[consuetudo  mali,  tenet  insanabile  rnultos]  2 
scribendi  cacoethes  et  aegro  in  corde  senescit. 

Sed  vatem  egregium,  cui  non  sit  publica  vena, 
qui  nil  expositum  soleat  deducere  nee  qui 

i  maculosas  Heinr.:  macidonsas  Ribb.Housm.:  maculonus 
rL  i  maculonis  PGBiich.  ,   . 

2  The  text  of  lines  50-52  is  evidently  corrupt.    Part  of  the 
passage  seems  to  be  a  gloss,  but,  even  if  line ,51  be  eliminated 
Fines  50  and  52  can  scarcely  be  translated  though  the  general 
sense  is  clear. 
140 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  VII 

eloquent,  just  as  boys  admire  the  bird  of  Juno.1 
Meantime  the  years  flow  by  that  could  have  endured 
the  sea,  the  helmet,  or  the  spade ;  the  soul  becomes 
wearied,  and  an  eloquent  but  penniless  old  age  curses 
itself  and  its  own  Terpsichore  !  2 

36  And  now  learn  the  devices  by  which  the  patron 
for  whose  favour  you  desert  the  temples  of  the 
Muses  and  Apollo  seeks  to  avoid  spending  anything 
on  you.  He  writes  verses  of  his  own;  yielding  the 
palm  to  none  but  Homer — and  that  only  because  of 
his  thousand  years.  If  the  sweets  of  fame  fire  you  to 
give  a  recitation,  he  puts  at  your  disposal  a  tumble- 
down house  in  some  distant  quarter,  the  door  of 
which  is  closely  barred  like  the  gate  of  a  beleaguered 
city.  He  knows  how  to  supply  you  with  freedmen 
to  sit  at  the  end  of  the  rows,  and  how  to  distribute 
about  the  room  the  stalwart  voices  of  his  retainers  : 
but  none  of  your  great  men  will  give  you  as  much 
as  will  pay  for  the  benches,  or  for  the  tiers  of  seats 
resting  on  hired  beams,  or  for  the  chairs  in  the 
front  rows  which  will  have  to  be  l-eturned  when  done 
with.  Yet  for  all  that,  we  poets  stick  to  our  task  ; 
Ave  e;o  on  drawing  furrows  in  the  thin  soil,  and  turning 
up  the  shore  with  unprofitable  plough.  For  if  you 
would  give  it  up,  the  itch  for  writing  and  making  a 
name  holds  you  fast  as  with  a  noose,  and  becomes 
inveterate  in  your  distempered  brain. 

53  But  your  real  poet,  who  has  a  vein  of  genius  all 
his  own — one   who    spins   no   hackneyed    lays,  and 

1  i.e.  the  peacock.  2  Properly  the  Muse  of  Dancing  ; 

used  here,  like  Clio  above,  for  poetry  in  general. 

141 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VII 

cornmuni  feriat  carmen  triviale  moneta,  55 

hunc,  qualem  nequeo  monstrare  et  sentio  tantum, 
anxietate  carens  animus  facit,  omnis  acerbi 
inpatiens,  cupidus  silvarum  aptusque  bibendis 
fontibus  Aonidum.     neque  enim  cantare  sub  antro 
Pierio  thyrsumque  potest  contingere  maesta  60 

paupertas  atque  aeris  inops,  quo  nocte  dieque 
corpus  eget :  satur  est  cum  dicit  Horatius  "  euhoe  !  " 
quis  locus  ingeniOj  nisi  cum  se  carmine  solo 
vexant  et  dominis  Cirrhae  Nysaeque  feruntur 
pectora  vestra  duas  non  admittentia  curas  ?  65 

magnae  mentis  opus,  nee  de  lodice  paranda 
attonitae,  currus  et  equos  faciesque  deorum 
aspicere  et  qualis  Rutulum  confundat  Erinys. 
nam  si  Vergilio  puer  et  tolerabile  desset 
hospitium,  caderent  omnes  a  crinibus  hydri,  70 

surda  nihil  gemeret  grave  bucina :  poscimus  ut  sit 
non  minor  antiquo  Rubrenus  Lappa  cothurno, 
cuius  et  alveolos  et  laenam  pignerat  Atreus  ? 
non  habet  infelix  Numitor  quod  mittat  amico  : 
Quintillae  quod  donet  habet,  nee  defuit  illi  75 

unde  emeret  multa  pascendum  carne  leonem 
iam  domitum  ;  constat  leviori  belua  sumptu 
nimirum  et  capiunt  plus  intestina  poetae. 

Contentus  fama  iaceat  Lucanus  in  hortis 
marmoreis,  et  Serrano  tenuique  Saleio  80 

gloria  quantalibet  quid  erit,  si  gloria  tantum  est  ? 


1  Apollo  and  Dionysus. 

2  Turnus.     See  Virg.  Atn.  viii.  445-450. 


142 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE    VII 

whose  pieces  are  struck  from  no  common  mint — such 
an  one  as  I  cannot  point  to,  and  only  feel — is  the 
product  of  a  soul  free  from  care,  that  knows  no 
bitterness,  that  loves  the  woodlands,  and  is  fitted  to 
drink  at  the  Muses'  spring.  For  how  can  unhappy 
Poverty  sing  songs  in  the  Pierian  cave  and  grasp  the 
thyrsus  when  it  is  short  of  cash,  which  the  body  has 
need  of  both  by  night  and  day  ?  Horace's  stomach  was 
well  filled  when  he  shouted  his  cry  of  Evoc !  Where 
can  genius  find  a  place  except  in  a  heart  stirred  by 
song  alone,  that  shuts  out  every  thought  but  one,  and 
is  swept  along  by  the  lords  of  Cirrha  and  of  Nysa !  l 
It  needs  a  lofty  soul,  not  one  that  is  dismayed  at  the 
cost  of  a  coverlet,  to  have  visions  of  chariots  and 
horses  and  Gods'  faces,  or  to  tell  with  what  a  mien  the 
Fury  confounded  the  Rutulian2:  had  Virgil  possessed 
no  slave,  and  no  decent  roof  over  his  head,  all  the 
snakes  would  have  fallen  from  the  Fury's  hair  ;  no 
dread  note  would  have  boomed  from  her  voiceless 
trumpet.  Do  we  expect  Rubrenus  Lappa  to  be  as 
great  in  the  buskin  as  the  ancients,  when  his  Atreus 
has  to  be  pawned  for  his  cloak  and  crockery  ?  Numi- 
tor,  poor  man,  has  nothing  to  give  to  a  needy  friend, 
though  he  is  rich  enough  to  send  presents  to  his 
mistress,  and  he  had  enough,  too,  to  buy  a  tamed 
lion  that  needed  masses  of  meat  for  his  keep.  It 
costs  less,  no  doubt,  to  keep  a  lion  than  a  poet ;  the 
poet's  belly  is  more  capacious  ! 

79  Lucan,3  indeed,  reclining  amid  the  statues  of 
his  gardens,  may  be  content  with  fame ;  but  what 
will  ever  so  much  glory  bring  in  to  Serranus,  or  to 
the  starving  Saleius,  if  it   be    glory  only  ?     When 

*  The  famous  author  of  the  Pharsalia,  M.  Annaeus 
Lucanus,  a.d.  39-65. 

143 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VII 

curritur  ad  vocera  iucundam  et  carmen  amicae 

Thebaidos,  laetam  cum  fecit  Statius  urbem 

promisitque  diem  :  tanta  dulcedine  captos 

adficit  ille  animos  tantaque  libidine  volgi  85 

auditur  ;  sed  cum  f regit  subsellia  versu, 

esuritj  intactam  Paridi  nisi  vendit  Agauen. 

ille  et  militiae  multis  largituv  honorem, 

semenstri  digitos  vatum  circumligat  auro  : 

quod  non  dant  proceres,  dabit  histrio;  tu  Camerinos  90 

et  Baream,  tu  nobilium  magna  atria  curas  ? 

praefectos  Pelopea  facit,  Philomela  tribunos. 

haut  tamen  invideas  vati  quern  pulpita  pascunt : 

quis  tibi  Maecenas,  quis  nunc  erit  aut  Proculeius 

aut  Fabius  ?  quis  Cotta  iterum,  quis  Lentulus  alter  ?  95 

tunc  par  ingenio  pretium,  tunc  utile  multis 

pallere  et  vinum  toto  nescire  Decembri. 

Vester  porro  labor  fecundior,  historiarum 
scriptores  ?  perit ]  hie  plus  temporis  atque  olei  plus, 
nullo  quippe  modo  millensima  pagina  surgit  100 

omnibus  et  crescit  multa  damnosa  papyro  ; 
sic  ingens  rerum  numerus  iubet  atque  operum  lex. 
quae  tamen  inde  seges  ?  terrae  quis  fructus  apertae  ? 
quis  dabit  historico  quantum  daret  acta  legenti  ? 
1  perit  PFG  :  petit  \p. 

1  P.  Papinius  Statius,  author  of  the  Tkehais,  circ.  a.d.61-96. 

J  Paris,  a  famous  pantomimic  dancer.  There  were  two  of 
the  name;  one  a  favourite  of  Nero,  executed  by  him  as  a 
rival,  a.d.  67  ;  the  other  a  favourite  of  Domitian,  also 
executed,  a.d.  87.     See  Introduction. 

3  The  commanding  officers  of  a  Legion  (tribuni)  became 
equitca  after  serving  for  six  months.  Claudius  instituted  the 
practice  of  making  honorary  appointments,  without  service, 
eo  as  to  bestow  the  title  of  eques  on  his  favourites. 

144 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  VII 

Statius  1  has  gladdened  the  city  by  promising  a  day, 
people  flock  to  hear  his  pleasing  voice  and  his  loved 
Thebais ;  so  charmed  are  their  souls  by  his  sweetness, 
with  such  rapture  does  the  multitude  listen  to  him. 
But  when  his  verses  have  brought  down  the  house, 
poor  Statius  will  starve  if  he  does  not  sell  his  virgin 
Agave  to  Paris  2  :  for  it  is  Paris  who  appoints  men  to 
military  commands  ;  it  is  Paris  who  puts  the  golden 
ring  round  the  poet's  finger  after  six  months  of  ser- 
vice.3 You  can  get  from  a  stage-player  what  no  great 
man  will  give  you  :  why  frequent  the  spacious  ante- 
chambers of  the  Bareae  or  the  Camerini  ?  It  is 
Pelopea 4  that  appoints  our  Prefects,  and  Philomela 4 
our  Tribunes !  Yet  you  need  not  begrudge  the  bard 
who  gains  his  living  from  the  play-house  :  who  now- 
adays will  be  a  Maecenas  5  to  you,  a'  Proculeius,  or  a 
Fabius  ?  who  another  Cotta,  or  a  second  Lentulus  ? 
Genius  in  those  days  met  with  its  due  reward ;  many 
then  found  their  profit  in  pale  cheeks  and  in  abjuring 
potations  all  through  December.6 

98  And  is  your  labour  more  remunerative,  ye 
writers  of  history  ?  More  time,  more  oil,  is  wasted 
here  ;  regardless  of  all  limit,  the  pages  run  up  to 
thousands ;  the  pile  of  paper  is  ever  mounting  to 
your  ruin.  So  ordains  the  vast  array  of  facts,  and 
the  rules  of  the  craft.  But  what  harvest  will  you 
gather,  what  fruit,  from  the  tilling  of  your  land  ? 
Who  will  give  to  an  historian  as  much  as  he  gives  to 
the  man  who  reads  out  the  news  ? 

4  Name3  of  pantomime  plays. 

6  A  noble  parron  of  letters,  especially  of  Horace  ;  for 
Proculeius,  see  Hor.  Od.  II.  ii.  5.  Paulus  Fabius  Maximus 
was  the  patron  of  Ovid  ;  Cotta  is  panegyrised  by  Ovid,  Epp. 
ex  P.  ii.  viii.  ;  P.  Lentulus  Spinther  helped  to  recall  Cicero 
from  banishment. 

6  In  reference  to  the  festive  season  of  the  Saturnalia. 

MS 


IVVENALIS    SATVRA  VII 

"Sed  genus  ignavum,   quod  lecto  gaudet  et 
umbra."  105 

die  igitur  quid  causidicis  civilia  praestent 
officia  et  magno  comites  in  fasce  libelli. 
ipsi  magna  sonant,  sed  turn  cum  creditor  audit 
praecipue,  vel  si  tetigit  latus  acrior  illo 
qui  venit  ad  dubium  grandi  cum  codice  nomen.     110 
tunc  inmensa  cavi  spirant  mendacia  folles 
conspuiturque  sinus  :  veram  deprendere  messem 
si  libet,  hinc  centum  patrimonia  causidicorum, 
parte  alia  solum  russati  pone  Lacertae.1 
consedere  duces,  surgis  tu  pallidus  Aiax  115 

dicturus  dubia  pro  libertate  bubulco 
iudice.     rumpe*  miser  tensum  iecur,  ut  tibi  lasso 
figantur  virides,  scalarum  gloria,  palmae. 
quod  vocis  pretium  ?  siccus  petasunculus  et  vas 
pelamydum   aut   veteres,    Maurorum    epimenia, 

bulbi,  12° 

aut  vinum  Tiberi  devectum,  quinque  lagonae. 
si  quater  egisti,  si  contigit  aureus  unus, 
inde  cadunt  partes  ex  foedere  pragmaticorum. 
Aemilio  dabitur  quantum  licet,  et  melius  nos 
egimus  ;  huius  enim  stat  currus  aeneus,  alti  125 

quadriiuges  in  vestibulis,  atque  ipse  feroci 

1  Lacertae  \p  :  Lacernae  P. 


1  The  creditor  is  one  to  whom  the  advocate  owes  money, 
and  before  whom  he  wishes  to  make  a  good  appearance  ;  the 
acrior  illo  is  a  litigant  whom  the  advocate  hopes  to  secure 

as  a  client.  . .       , 

2  Spitting  or  slobbering  on  the  breast  was  considered 
lucky    to  obviate  the  evil  results  of  boasting. 

3  Lacerta  is  apparently  the  name  of  a  charioteer. 

4  Alluding  to  the  contest  between  Ajax  and  Achilles  tor 
the  arms  of  Achilles.  06 

146 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VII 

105  «  o  but  historians  are  a  lazy  crew,  that  delight 
in  lounging  and  the  shade."  Tell  me  then  what  do 
pleaders  get  for  their  services  in  the  courts,  and  for 
those  huge  bundles  of  papers  which  they  bring  with 
them  ?  They  talk  big  enough,  especially  if  a  creditor1 
of  their  own  happens  to  be  listening :  or  if,  more 
urgent  still,  they  get  poked  in  the  ribs  by  one  who 
has  brought  a  huge  ledger  to  claim  a  doubtful  debt. 
Then  indeed  do  their  capacious  bellows  pant  forth  pro- 
digious lies  !  Then  are  their  breasts  be-slobbered  ! 2 
and  yet,  if  you  want  to  discover  their  real  gains, 
you  may  put  on  one  side  the  fortunes  of  a  hundred 
lawyers,  on  the  other  that  of  a  single  jockey  of 
the  Red  ! 3  The  great  men  are  seated  ;  you  rise,  a 
pale-faced  Ajax,4  to  declaim  before  a  bumpkin  judge 
in  a  case  of  contested  liberty.  Strain  your  lungs,  poor 
fool,  until  they  burst,  that  when  exhausted  by  your 
labours  some  green  palm-branches  may  be  put  up  to 
adorn  your  garret.6  What  fee  will  your  voice  bring 
in  ?  A  dried-up  ham  6  ;  a  jar  of  sprats  ;  some  veteran 
onions  which  would  serve  as  rations  for  a  Moor,  or 
five  flagons  of  wine  that  has  sailed  down  the  Tiber.7 
If  you  have  pled  on  four  occasions,  and  been  lucky 
enough  to  get  a  gold  piece,  a  bit  of  it,  as  part  of  the 
compact,  will  go  to  the  attorney.  Aemilius  will  get 
the  maximum  legal  fee,8  though  he  did  not  plead  so 
well  as  we  did  ;  but  then  he  has  a  bronze  chariot  in 
his  forecourt,  with  four  stately  steeds,  and  an  effigy 

5  The  advocate  who  had  won  a  case  would  have  his  stair 
decorated. 

9  Lawyers  received  presents  in  kind  from  their  country 
clients. 

7  i.e.  poor  wine ;  like  the  vile  Sabinum  of  Hor.  Od.  i.  xx.  1. 

8  Aemilius  was  a  noble  ;  the  Lex  Cincia  (b.o.  204)  placed 
a  limit  upon  lawyers'  fees. 

147 
l  2 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VII 

bellatore  sedens  curvatum  hastile  minatur 

eminus  et  statua  meditatur  proelia  lusca. 

sic  Pedo  conturbat,  Matho  deficit,  exitus  hie  est 

Tongilii,  magno  cum  rhinocerote  lavari  130 

qui  solet  et  vexat  lutulenta  balnea  turba, 

perque  forum  iuvenes  longo  premit  assere  Maedos 

empturus  pueros  argentum  murrina  villas  ; 

spondet  enim  Tyrio  stlattaria  purpura  filo. 

et  tamen  est  illis  hoc  utile  :  purpura  vendit  135 

causidicum,  vendunt  amethystina  ;  convenit  illi 

et  strepita  et  facie  maioris  vivere  census, 

sed  finem  inpensae  non  servat  prodiga  Roma. 

Fidimus  eloquio  x  ?     Ciceroni  nemo  ducentos 
nunc  dederit  nummos,  nisi  fulserit  anulus  ingens.   HO 
respicit  haec  primum  qui  litigat,  an  tibi  servi 
octo,  decern  comites,  an  post  te  sella,  togati 
ante  pedes,     ideo  conducta  Paulus  agebat 
sardonyche,  atque  ideo  pluris  quam  Gallus  agebat, 
quam  Basilus.     rara  in  tenui  facundia  panno.         145 
quando  licet  Basilo  flentem  producere  matrem  ? 
quis  bene  dicentem  Basilum  ferat  ?  accipiat  te 
Gallia  vel  potius  nutricula  causidicorum 
Africa,  si  placuit  mercedem  ponere  linguae. 

Declamare  doces  ?    o  ferrea  pectora  Vetti,         150 
cum  perimit  saevos  classis  numerosa  tyrannos. 

i  Instead  of  fidimus  eloquio  $  has  ut  redeant  veleres.     See 
Housm.,  Introd.  p.  xxv. 


1  These  men  are  ruined  by  imitating  the  extravagance  of 
their  betters. 

2  Flourishing  schools  of  rhetoric  were  established  under 
the  early  Empire  in  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Africa. 

148 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VII 

of  himself,  seated  on  a  gallant  charger,  brandishing 
from  afar  a  bending  spear,  and  practising  for  battle 
with  one  eye  closed.  That  is  how  Pedo l  becomes 
bankrupt,  and  how  Matho l  fails ;  and  such  will  be 
the  end  of  Tongilius,  who  frequents  the  baths  with  a 
huge  oil-flask  of  rhinoceros  horn,  and  disturbs  the 
bathers  with  a  mob  of  dirty  retainers.  His  Maedian 
bearers  are  weighed  down  by  the  long  poles  of  his 
litter  as  he  passes  through  the  Forum  on  his  way  to 
buy  slaves  or  plate,  agate  vases  or  country  houses ; 
for  that  foreign  robe  of  his,  with  its  Tyrian  purple, 
gains  him  credit.  These  gentlemen  get  profit  out 
of  this  display  ;  the  purple  or  the  violet  robe  brings 
practice  to  a  lawyer  ;  it  pays  him  to  live  with  a 
racket  and  an  appearance  beyond  his  means,  and 
wasteful  Rome  sets  no  limits  to  extravagance. 

139  Trust  in  eloquence,  indeed  ?  Why,  no  one 
would  give  Cicero  himself  two  hundred  pence  now- 
adays unless  a  huge  ring  were  blazing  on  his  finger. 
The  first  thing  that  a  litigant  looks  to  is,  Have  you 
eight  slaves  and  a  dozen  retainers  ?  Have  you  a 
litter  to  wait  on  you,  and  gowned  citizens  to  walk 
before  you  ?  That  is  why  Paulus  used  to  hire  a  sard- 
onyx ring ;  that  is  why  he  earned  a  higher  fee  than 
Gallus  or  Basilus.  When  is  eloquence  ever  found 
beneath  a  shabby  coat  ?  When  does  Basilus  get  the 
chance  of  producing  in  court  a  weeping  mother? 
Who  would  listen  to  him,  however  well  he  spoke  ? 
Better  go  to  Gaul  or  to  Africa,2  that  nursing  mother  of 
lawyers,  if  you  would  make  a  living  by  your  tongue  ! 

150  Or  do  you  teach  rhetoric  ?  O  Vettius  !  what 
iron  bowels  must  you  have  when  your  troop  of 
scholars  slays 3  the  cruel  tyrant :  when  each  in  turn 

3  ».e.  in  a  rhetorical  exercise. 

149 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  VII 

nam   quaecumque    sedens   modo   legerat,   haec 

eadem  stans  , 

pevferet  atque  eadem  cantabit  versibus  isdem; 
occidit  miseros  crambe  repetita  magistros. 
quis  color  et  quod  sit  causae  genus  atque  ubi 

summa 
quaestio,  quae  veniant  diversa  e  parte*  sagittae, 
nosse  volunt  omnes,  mercedem  solvere  nemo 
«  mercedem  appellas  ?  quid  enim  scio  ?        culpa 

docentis 
scilicet  arguitur,  quod  laevae  parte  mamillae 
nil  salit  Arcadico  iuveni,  cuius  mini  sexta    _  loU 

quaque  die  miserum  dims  caput  Hannibal  inplet, 
quidquid  id  est  de  quo  deliberat,  an  petat  urbem 
a  Cannis,  an  post  nimbos  et  fulmina  cautus 
circumanal  madidas  a  tempestate  cohortes. 
quantum  vis  stipulare  et  protinus  accipe  :  quid     ^ 

do  .   .  ,.. 

ut  totiens  ilium  pater  audiat?  haec  alii  sex 
vel  plures  uno  conclamant  ore  sophistae 
et  veras  agitant  lites  raptore  rehcto  ; 
fusa  venena  silent,  malus  ingratusque  mantus 
et  quae  iam  veteres  sanant  mortana  caecos.  170 

'  Ergo  sibi  dabit  ipse  rudem,  si  nostra  movebunt 
consilia,  et  vitae  diversum  iter  ingredietur 
ad  pu«mam  qui  rhetorica  descendit  ab  umbra, 
summula  ne  pereat  qua  vilis  tessera  vemt 

i  parle.     So  *:  P  and  Biich.  have  forte. 
»  quid  TFGTU:  quod  ALO. 

i  For  the  meaning  of  color,  see  note  on  vi.  280. 

I  The  EngTish  idiom  would  be  «  What  would  I  not  give." 

3  i.e.  teachers,  especially  of  rhetoric 

4  The  rhetor  goes  to  law  to  recover  his  tees. 

I50 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VII 

stands  up,  and  repeats  what  he  has  just  been  con- 
ning in  his  seat,  reciting  the  self-same  things  in  the 
self-same  verses!  Served  up  again  and  again,  the 
cabbage  is  the  death  of  the  unhappy  master '  What 
complexion  l  should  be  put  on  the  case ;  within  what 
category  it  falls ;  what  is  the  crucial  point ;  what  hits 
will  be  made  on  the  other  side — these  are  things 
which  everyone  wants  to  know,  but  for  which  no  one 
is  willing  to  pay.  "  Pay  indeed  ?  Why,  what  have  I 
learnt?  "  asks  the  scholar.  It  is  the  teacher's  fault, 
of  course,  that  the  Arcadian  youth  feels  no  flutter  in 
his  left  breast  when  he  dins  his  "  dire  Hannibal  "  into 
my  unfortunate  head  on  every  sixth  day  of  the  week, 
whatever  be  the  question  which  he  is  pondering: 
whether  he  should  make  straight  for  the  city  from 
the  field  of  Cannae,  or  whether,  after  the  rain  and 
thunder,  he  should  lead  around  his  cohorts,  all 
dripping  after  the  storm.  Name  any  sum  you  please 
and  you  shall  have  it  :  what  would  I  give  2  that  the 
lad's  father  might  listen  to  him  as  often  as  I  do  ! 
So  cry  half-a-dozen  or  more  of  our  sophists  3  in  one 
breath,  entering  upon  real  lawsuits4  of  their  own, 
abandoning  "The  Ravisher"  and  forgetting  all 
about  "The  Poisoner"  or  "The  wicked  and  thank- 
less Husband,"  or  the  drugs  that  restore  sight  to  the 
chronic  blind. 

171  And  so,  if  my  counsel  goes  for  anything,  I  would 
advise  the  man  who  comes  down  from  his  rhetorical 
shade  to  fight  for  a  sum  that  would  buy  a  trumpery 
corn-ticket5 — for  that's  the  most  handsome  fee  he 
will  ever  get — to  present  himself  with  a  discharge,6 

5  A  ticket  for  the  gratuitous  distributions  of  corn. 

6  A  retiring  gladiator  received  a  wooden  sword  {rudvi)  as  a 
token  of  discharge. 

I51 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  VII 

frumenti ;  quippe  haec  merces  lautissima.  tempta  175 
Chrysogonus  quanti  doceat  vel  Polio  quanti 
lautorum  pueros  :  artem  scindes x  Theodori 
Balnea  sescentis  et  pluris  porticus  in  qua 
gestetur  dominus  quotiens  pluit — anne  serenum 
expectet  spargatve  luto  iumenta  recenti  ?  180 

hie  potius,  namque  hie  mundae  nitet  ungula  mulae. 
parte  alia  longis  Numidavum  fulta  columnis 
surgat  et  algentem  rapiat  cenatio  solem. 
quanticumque  domus,  veniet  qui  fercula  docte 
conponat,2  veniet  qui  pulmentaria  condit.3  185 

hos  inter  sumptus  sestertia  Quintiliano, 
ut  multum,  duo  sufficient ;  res  nulla  minoris 
constabit  patri  quam  films.     "  unde  igitur  tot 
Quintilianus  habet  saltus  ?  "     exempla  novorum 
fatorum  transi :  felix  et  pulcer  et  acer,  190 

felix  et  sapiens  et  nobilis  et  generosus 
adpositam  nigrae  lunam  subtexit  alutae  ; 
felix  orator  quoque  maximus  et  iaculator, 
et  si  perfrixit,  cantat  bene,     distat  enim  quae 
sidera  te  excipiant  modo  primos  incipientem  195 

edere  vagitus  et  adhuc  a  matre  rubentem. 
si  Foi-tuna  volet,  fies4  de  rhetore  consul ; 
si  volet  haec  eadem,  fiet  de  consule  rhetor. 

1  scindens  P<J< :  scindes  conj.  Iahn,  confirmed  by  Voss.  64. 

2  Componit  GT.     P  and  most  MSS.  have  componat.     See 
Housm.,  Journal  of  Phil.  No.  67,  p.  41. 

3  P  has  condit :  LOU  condat :  condiat  Lachmann. 

4  fies  ptj/ :  fiei  P. 

1  Chrysogonus  was  a  singer  (vi.  74),  Pollio  a  player  on  the 
cithara  (vi  387). 

2  A  famous  rhetorician  at  Rhodes. 

152 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VII 

and  enter  upon  some  other  walk  of  life.  If  you  ask 
what  fees  Chrysogonus  and  Pollio x  get  for  teaching 
music  to  the  sons  of  our  great  men,  you  will  tear  up 
the  Rhetoric  of  Theodorus.2 

178  Your  great  man  will  spend  six  hundred  thousand 
sesterces  upon  his  baths,  and  something  more  on 
the  colonnade  in  which  he  is  to  drive  on  rainy  days. 
What?  Is  he  to  wait  for  a  clear  sky,  and  bespatter 
his  horses  with  fresh  mud?  How  much  better  to 
drive  where  their  hoofs  will  remain  bright  and  spot- 
less !  Elsewhere  let  a  banqueting  hall  arise,  sup- 
ported on  lofty  pillai's  of  African  marble,  to  catch  the 
winter  sun.  And  cost  the  house  what  it  may,  there 
will  come  a  man  to  arrange  the  courses  skilfully, 
and  the  man  who  makes  up  the  tasty  dishes.  Amidst 
expenditure  such  as  this  two  thousand  sesterces  will 
be  enough,  and  more  than  enough,  for  Quintilian : 
there  is  nothing  on  which  a  father  will  not  spend 
more  money  than  on  his  son.  "  How  then,"  you  ask, 
"does  Quintilian  possess  those  vast  domains?  "  Pass 
by  cases  of  rare  good  fortune :  the  lucky  man 3  is 
both  beautiful  and  brave,  he  is  wise  and  noble  and 
high-born  ;  he  sews  on  to  his  black  shoe  the  ci'escent 
of  the  Senator.  He  is  a  great  orator  too,  a  good 
javelin-man,  and  if  he  chance  to  have  caught  a  cold, 
he  sings  divinely.  For  it  makes  all  the  difference 
by  what  stars  you  are  welcomed  when  you  utter 
your  first  cry,  and  are  still  red  from  your  mother's 
womb.  If  Fortune  so  choose,  you  will  become  a 
Consul  from  being  a  rhetor;  if  again  she  so  wills, 
you   will   become   a   rhetor   from    being   a    Consul. 

8  Juvenal  sarcastically  assigns  to  the  lucky  man  all  the 
qualities  which  the  Stoics  attributed  to  the  sapiens.  See 
Hor.  Epp.  i.  i.  106-108.  Juvenal  probably  had  an  eye  to 
that  passage. 

153 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VII 

Ventidius  quid  enim  ?  quid    Tullius?  anne   aliud 

quam 
sidus  et  occulti  miranda  potentia  fati  ?  200 

servis  regna  dabunt,  captivis  fata  triumphum. 
felix  ille  tamen  corvo  quoque  rarior  albo. 
paenituit  multos  vanae  sterilisque  cathedrae, 
sicut  Thrasimachi  probat  exitus  atque  Seeundi 
Carrinatis  ;  et  hunc  inopem  vidistis,  Athenae,        205 
nil  praeter  gelidas  ausae  conferre  cicutas. 
di,  maiorum  umbris  tenuem  et  sine  pondere  terram 
spirantisque  crocos  et  in  urna  perpetuum  ver, 
qui  praeceptorem  sancti  voluere  parentis 
esse  loco,     metuens  virgae  iam  grandis  Achilles    210 
cantabat  patriis  in  montibus  et  cui  non  tunc 
eliceret  risum  citharoedi  cauda  magistri ; 
sed  Rufum  atque  alios  caedit  sua  quemque  iuventus, 
Rufum,  quern  totiens  Ciceronem  Allobroga  dixit. 

Quis  gremio  Celadi  doctique  Palaemonis  adfert  215 
quantum  grammaticus  meruit  labor  ?  et  tamen  ex  hoc 
quodcumque  est,  minus  est  autem  quam  rhetoris  aera, 
discipuli  custos  praemordet  acoenonoetus  1 
et  qui  dispensat  frangit  sibi.     cede,  Palaemon, 

1  acoenonoetus  PS:  acoenonetos  U  {q.koivwv7)to$  "refusing 
to  go  shares"). 

1  P.  Ventidius  Bassus  rose  from  nothing  to  be  consul 
B.C.  43;  he  triumphed  over  the  Parthians. 

2  Cicero. 

s  Both  rhetoricians.  Carrinas  was  banished  by  Caligula, 
and  apparently  hanged  himself. 

*  The  reference  must  surely  be  to  Socrates  ;  though  Ulum 
■would  have  been  more  appropriate  than  hunc. 

154 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VII 

What  of  Ventidius l  and  Tullius  ?2  What  made  then- 
fortunes  but  the  stars  and  the  wondrous  potency  of 
secret  Fate  ?  The  Fates  will  give  kingdoms  to  a  slave, 
and  triumphs  to  a  captive !  Nevertheless  that  for- 
tunate man  is  rare — rarer  than  a  white  crow.  Many 
have  repented  them  of  the  Professor's  vain  and  un- 
profitable chair  ;  witness  the  ends  of  Thrasymachus  3 
and  Secundus  Carrinas.3  Him  too  didst  thou  see  in 
poverty  on  whom  thou,  O  Athens,  hadst  nothing 
better  to  bestow  than  a  cup  of  cold  hemlock ! 4 
Grant,  O  Gods,  that  the  earth  may  lie  soft  and  light 
upon  the  shades  of  our  forefathers  :  may  the  sweet- 
scented  crocus  and  a  perpetual  spring-time  bloom 
over  their  ashes ;  who  deemed  that  the  teacher 
should  hold  the  place  of  a  revered  parent !  Achilles 
trembled  for  fear  of  the  rod  when  already  of  full 
age,  singing  songs  in  his  native  hills  ;  nor  would  he 
then  have  dared  to  laugh  at  the  tail  of  his  musical 
instructor.5  But  Rufus  and  the  rest  are  cudgelled 
each  by  his  own  pupils — that  Rufus6  whom  they 
have  so  often  styled  "the  Allobrogian  Cicero." 

215  Who  pours  into  the  lap  of  Celadus,  or  of  the 
learned  Palaemon,7  as  much  as  their  grammatical 
labours  deserve  ?  And  yet,  small  as  the  fee  is — 
and  it  is  smaller  than  the  rhetor's  wage — the 
pupil's  unfeeling  s  attendant  nibbles  off  a  bit  of  it 
for  himself;  so  too  does  the  steward.     But  give  in, 

s  Achilles  was  instructed  in  the  lyre  by  the  Centaur 
Chiron. 

6  Rufus  was  apparently  an  Allobrogian.  The  Allobroges 
occupied  the  country  between  the  Rhone  and  the  Isere. 

7  Q.  Remmius  Palaemon,  a  famous  Roman  grammarian  in 
the  time  of  Tiberius  and  Caligula. 

8  Acoe.nonoe.tus  is  one  of  those  Greek  terms  whose  use 
Juvenal  wishes  to  ridicule.  The  Scholiast  explains  it  as 
communi  sensu  carens.     See  Mayor. 

155 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VII 

et  patere    inde    aliquid   decrescere,    non   aliter 

quam  220 

institor  hibernae  tegetis  niveique  cadurci, 
dummodo  non  pereat  mediae  quod  noctis  ab  hora 
sedisti,  qua  nemo  faber,  qua  nemo  sederet 
qui  docet  obliquo  lanam  deducere  ferro  ; 
dummodo  non  pereat  totidem  olfecisse  lucernas    225 
quot  stabant  pueri,  cum  totus  decolor  esset 
Flaccus  et  haereret  nigro  fuligo  Maroni. 

Rara  tamen  merces  quae  cognitione  tribuni 
non  egeat.     sed  vos  saevas  inponite  leges, 
ut  praeceptori  verborum  regula  constet,  230 

ut  legat  historias,  auctores  noverit  omnes 
tamquam  ungues  digitosque  suos,  ut  forte  rogatus 
dum  petit  aut  thermas  aut  Phoebi  balnea,  dicat 
nutricem  Anchisae,  nomen  patriamque  novercae 
Anchemoli,  dicat  quot  Acestes  vixerit  annis,  235 

quot  Siculi  Phrygibus  vini  donaverit  urnas ; 
exigite  ut  mores  teneros  ceu  pollice  ducat, 
ut  si  quis  cera  voltum  facit ;  exigite  ut  sit 
et  pater  ipsius  coetus,  ne  turpia  ludant, 
ne  faciant  vicibus  ;  non  est  leve  tot  puerorum        240 
observare  manus  oculosque  in  fine  trementis. 
"haec,"  inquit,  "cura,  sed1  cum  se  verterit  annus, 
accipe,  victori  populus  quod  postulat,  aurum." 

i  cura  sed  G  and  one  of  Ruperti's  MSS. :  curas  et  P^/  and 
Biich.  (1893) :  cures  et  Owen. 


156 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  VII 

Palaemon  ;  suffer  some  diminution  of  your  wage,  like 
the  hawker  who  sells  rags  and  white  Gallic  blankets 
for  winter  wear,  if  only  it  do  not  go  for  nothing  that 
you  have  sat  from  early  dawn  in  a  hole  which  no 
blacksmith  would  put  up  with,  no  workman  who 
teaches  how  to  card  wool  with  slanting  tool :  that  it 
do  not  go  for  nothing  to  have  snuffed  up  the  odour 
of  as  many  lamps  as  you  had  scholars  in  your  class 
thumbing  a  discoloured  Horace  or  a  begrimed 
Virgil. 

228  But  it  is  seldom  that  the  fee  can  be  recovered 
without  a  judgment  of  the  Court.  And  yet  be  sure, 
ye  parents,  to  impose  the  strictest  laws  upon  the 
teacher:  he  must  never  be  at  fault  in  his  grammar; 
he  must  know  all  history,  and  have  all  the  authorities 
at  his  finger-tips.  If  asked  a  chance  question  on  his 
way  to  the  baths,  or  to  the  establishment  of  Phoebus,1 
he  must  at  once  tell  you  who  was  the  nurse  of 
Anchises,  what  was  the  name  and  birth-place  of  An- 
chemolus'  2  step-mother,  to  what  age  Acestes  lived, 
how  many  flagons  of  Sicilian  wine  he  presented  to 
the  Trojans.3  Require  of  him  that  he  shall  mould 
the  young  minds  as  a  man  moulds  a  face  out  of  wax 
with  his  thumb ;  insist  that  he  shall  be  a  father  to 
the  whole  brood,  so  that  they  shall  play  no  nasty 
game,  and  do  no  nasty  trick — no  easy  matter  to  watch 
the  hands  and  sparkling  eyes  of  so  many  youngsters  ! 
"  See  to  all  this,"  you  say,  "and  then,  Avhen  the  year 
comes  round,  receive  the  golden  piece  which  the 
mob  demands  for  a  winning  jockey." 


i 


Probably  a  private  bathing  establishment. 
8  A  warrior  slain  by  Pallas.     Virg.  Aen,  x.  389. 
8  Aen.  v.  73  foil. 


157 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  VIII 


SATVRA  VIII 

Stemmata    quid   faciunt?    quid   prodest,  Pontice, 
longo 
sanguine  censeri,  pictos  ostendere  vultus 
maiorum  et  stantis  in  curvibus  Aemilianos 
et  Curios  iam  dimidios  umerosque  minorem 
Corvinum  et  Galbam  auriculis  nasoque  carentem  ?     5 
quis  fructus  generis  tabula  iactare  eapaci 
Corvinum,1  posthac  multa  contingere  virga 
fumosos  equitum  cum  dictatore  magistros, 
si  coram  Lepidis  male  vivitur  ?     effigies  quo 
tot  bellatorum,  si  luditur  alea  pernox  10 

ante  Numantinos,  si  dormire  incipis  ortu 
Luciferi,  quo  signa  duces  et  castra  movebant  ? 
cur  Allobrogicis  et  magna  gaudeat  ara 
natus  in  Herculeo  Fabius  lare,  si  cupidus,  si 
vanus  et  Euganea  quantumvis  mollior  agna,  15 

si  tenerum  attritus  Catinensi  pumice  lumbum 
squalentis  traducit  avos,  emptorque  veneni 
frangenda  miseram  funestat  imagine  gentem  ? 
tota  licet  veteres  exornent  undique  cerae 
atria,  nobilitas  sola  est  atque  unica  virtus.  20 

1  Corvinum  P  etc.:  Housm.  conj.  pontifices. 

1  Alluding  to  the  younger  Scipio,  son  of  L.  Aemilius 
Paulus,  who  according  to  rule  took  the  name  of  Aemilianus 
after  his  adoption  by  P.  Cornelius  Scipio  (son  of  Scipio 
Africanus  major). 

2  Scipio  the  younger  was  called  Numantinua  after  the 
capture  of  Numantia,  B.C.  134. 

I58 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VIII 

SATIRE   VIII 

Stemmata  quid  Faciunt  ? 

What  avail  your  pedigrees  ?  What  boots  it,  Ponti- 
cus,  to  be  valued  for  one's  ancient  blood,  and  to 
display  the  painted  visages  of  one's  forefathers — an 
Aemilianus1  standing  in  his  car;  a  half-crumbled 
Curius ;  a  Corvinus  who  has  lost  a  shoulder,  or  a 
Galba  that  has  neither  ear  nor  nose  ?  Of  what  profit 
is  it  to  boast  a  Fabius  on  your  ample  family  chart, 
and  thereafter  to  trace  kinship  through  many  a  branch 
with  grimy  Dictators  and  Masters  of  the  Horse,  if 
in  presence  of  the  Lepidi  you  live  an  evil  life  ?  What 
signify  all  these  effigies  of  warriors  if  you  gamble 
all  night  long  before  your  Numantine2  ancestors, 
and  begin  your  sleep  with  the  rise  of  Lucifer,  at 
an  hour  when  our  Generals  of  old  would  be  moving 
their  standards  and  their  camps  ?  Why  should  a 
Fabius,  born  in  the  home  of  Hercules,3  take  pride  in 
the  title  Allobrogicus,4  and  in  the  Great  Altar,5  if  he 
be  covetous  and  empty-headed  and  more  effeminate 
than  a  Euganean 6  lambkin;  if  his  loins,  rubbed 
smooth  by  Catanian7  pumice,  throw  shame  on  his 
shaggy-haired  grandfathers ;  or  if,  as  a  trafficker  in 
poison,  he  dishonour  his  unhappy  race  by  a  statue  that 
will  have  to  be  broken  in  pieces  ?  Though  you  deck 
your  hall  from  end  to  end  with  ancient  waxen 
images,  Virtue  is  the  one  and  only  true  nobility.     Be 

3  The  Fabii  pretended  to  be  descended  from  Hercules. 

4  Alluding  to  Q.  Fabius  Maximus  Allobrogicus  (B.C.  121). 

5  The  ara  maxima  of  Hercules,  near  the  Circus. 

6  Fine  pasture  land  in  Venetia,  where  dwelt  the  Euganei. 

7  From  Catana  near  Mount  Aetna. 

iS9 


IWENALIS   SATVRA  VIII 

Paulus  vel  Cossus  vel  Drusus  moribus  esto, 

hos  ante  effigies  maiorum  pone  tuorum, 

praecedant  ipsas  illi  te  consule  virgas. 

prima  mihi  debes  animi  bona,     sanctus  haben 

iustitiaeque  tenax  factis  dictisque  mereris  ?  -?'  25 

agnosco  procerem  :  salve  Gaetulice,  seu  tu 

Silanus,  quocumque  alio  de  sanguine  rarus 

civis  et  egregius  patriae  contingis  ovanti, 

exclamare  libet,  populus  quod  clamat  Osiri 

invento.     quis  enim  generosum  dixerit  hunc  qui     30 

indignus  genere  et  praeclaro  nomine  tantum 

insignis  ?     nanum  cuiusdam  Atlanta  vocamus, 

Aethiopem  Cycnum,  pravam  extortamque  puellam 

Europen  ;  canibus  pigris  scabieque  vetusta 

levibus  et  siccae  lambentibus  ora  lucernae  35 

nomen  erit  pardus  tigris  leo,  si  quid  adhuc  est 

quod  fremat  in  terris  violentius  ;  ergo  cavebis 

et  metues  ne  tu  sic  x  Creticus  aut  Camerinus. 

His  ego  quern  monui?     tecum  est  mihi   sermo, 
Rubelli 
Blande.      tumes   alto  Drusorum  stemmate,    tam- 

40 
quam 

feceris  ipse  aliquid  propter  quod  nobilis  esses, 

ut  te  conciperet  quae  sanguine  fulget  Iuli, 

non  quae  ventoso  conducta  sub  aggere  texit. 

"vos  humiles,"  inquis,  "volgi  pars  ultima  nostri, 

quorum  nemo  queat  patriam  monstrare  parentis ;    45 

ast  ego  Cecropides."     vivas  et  originis  huius 

gaudia  longa  feras.     tamen  ima  plebe  Quiritem 

1  sic  H.  Junius  :  si  P  :  sis  \p. 


When  a  new  Apis  was  Lorn,  the  people  shouted  evprjuafxev, 
{alpontv.     Apis   was   supposed  to  be  an  incarnation   of 


Osiris 
160 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VIII 

a  Paulus,  or  a  Cossus,  or  a  Drusus  in  character;  rank 
them  before  the  statues  of  your  ancestors ;  let  them 
precede  the  fasces  themselves  when  you  are  Consul. 
You  owe  me,  first  of  all  things,  the  virtues  of  the 
soul ;  prove  yourself  stainless  in  life,  one  who  holds 
fast  to  the  right  both  in  word  and  deed,  and  I  ac- 
knowledge you  as  a  lord  ;  all  hail  to  you,  Gaetulicus, 
or  you,  Silanus,  or  from  whatever  stock  you  come,  if 
you  have  proved  yourself  to  a  rejoicing  country  a  rare 
and  illustrious  citizen,  we  would  fain  cry  what  Egypt 
shouts  when  Osiris  has  been  found.1  For  who  can 
be  called  "noble"  who  is  unworthy  of  his  race,  and 
distinguished  in  nothing  but  his  name?  We  call 
some  one's  dwarf  an  "Atlas,"  his  blackamoor  "a 
swan " ;  an  ill-favoured,  misshapen  girl  we  call 
"Europa";  lazy  hounds  that  are  bald  with  chronic 
mange,  and  who  lick  the  edges  of  a  dry  lamp,  will 
bear  the  names  of  "Pard,"  "Tiger,"  "Lion,"  or  of 
any  other  animal  in  the  world  that  roars  more 
fiercely :  take  you  care  that  it  be  not  on  that  prin- 
ciple that  you  are  a  Creticus  or  a  Camerinus ! 

30  Who  is  it  whom  I  admonish  thus  ?  It  is  to  you, 
Rubellius  Rlandus,2  that  I  speak.  You  are  puffed  up 
with  the  lofty  pedigree  of  the  Drusi,  as  though  you 
had  done  something  to  make  you  noble,  and  to  be 
conceived  by  one  glorying  in  the  blood  of  lulus, 
rather  than  by  one  who  weaves  for  hire  under  the 
windy  rampart.  "You  others  are  dirt,"  you  say; 
"  the  very  scum  of  our  populace  ;  not  one  of  you  can 
point  to  his  father's  birthplace;  but  I  am  one  of 
the  Cecropidae  !  "  Long  life  to  you  !  May  you  long 
enjoy  the  glories  of  your  birth  !    And  yet  among  the 

2  Rubellius  Blandus  was  married  to  Julia,  grand-daughter 
of  Tiberius.     One  of  his  descendants  must  be  meant  here. 

161 

M 


IVVENALIS  SATVRA  VIII 

facundum  invenies  :  solet  hie  defendere  causas 

nobilis  indooti ;  veniet  de  plebe  togata 

qui  iuris  nodos  et  legum  aenigmata  solvat ;  50 

hinc  i  petit  Euphrates  iuvenis  domitique  Batavi 

custodes  aquilas,  armis  industrius.     at  tu 

nil  nisi  Cecropides,  truncoque  simillimus  Hermae  : 

nullo  quippe  alio  vincis  discrimine  quam  quod 

illi  marmoreum  caput  est,  tua  vivit  imago.  55 

Die  mihi,  Teucrorum  proles  :  animalia  muta 
quis  generosa  putet  nisi  fortia  ?     nempe  volucrem 
sic  laudamus  equum,  facili  cui  plurima  palma 
fervet  et  exultat  rauco  victoria  circo  ; 
nobilis  hie,  quocumque  venit  de  gramine,  cuius       60 
clara  fuga  ante  alios  et  primus  in  aequore  pulvis. 
sed  venale  pecus  Coryphaei  posteritas  et 
Hirpini,  si  rara  iugo  victoria  sedit ; 
nil  ibi  maiorum  respectus,  gratia  nulla 
umbrarum  ;  dominos  pretiis  mutare  iubentur  65 

exiguis,  trito  ducunt  epiraedia  collo 
segnipedes  dignique  molam  versare  nepotes. 
ergo  ut  miremur  te,  non  tua,  privum  aliquid  da, 
quod  possim  titulis  incidere  praeter  honores 
quos  illis  damus  ac  dedimus,  quibus  omnia  debes.  70 
Haec  satis  ad  iuvenem  quern  nobis  fama  superbum 
tradit  et  inflatum  plenumque  Nerone  propinquo ; 
rarus  enim  ferme  sensus  communis  in  ilia 
fortuna.     sed  te  censeri  laude  tuorum, 
i  hinc  conj.  by  Weidner  and  confirmed  byGU;  P*haveft*c. 
1  Famous  racers. 
162 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VIII 

lowest  rabble  you  will  find  a  Roman  who  has  elo- 
quence, one  who  will  plead  the  cause  of  the  unlet- 
tered noble  ;  you  must  go  to  the  toga-clad  herd  for 
a  man  to  untie  the  knots  and  riddles  of  the  law. 
From  them  will  come  the  brave  young  soldier  who 
marches  to  the  Euphrates,  or  to  the  eagles  that 
guard  the  conquered  Batavians,  while  you  are  nothing 
but  a  Cecropid,  the  image  of  a  limbless  Hermes ! 
For  in  no  respect  but  one  have  you  the  advantage 
over  him :  his  head  is  of  marble,  while  yours  is  a 
living  effiarv ! 

56  Tell  me,  thou  scion  of  the  Trojans,  who  deems  a 
dumb  animal  well-born  unless  it  be  strong  ?  It  is  for 
this  that  we  commend  the  swift  horse  whose  speed  sets 
every  hand  aglow,  and  fills  the  Circus  witli  the  hoarse 
shout  of  victory ;  that  horse  is  noblest,  on  whatever 
pasture  reared,  whose  rush  outstrips  the  rest,  and 
whose  dust  is  foremost  upon  the  plain.  But  the  off- 
spring of  Coryphaeus1  or  Hirpinus1  comes  to  the 
hammer  if  Victory  light  but  seldom  on  his  car  :  no 
respect  is  there  paid  to  ancestors,  no  favour  is  shown 
to  Shades !  The  slow  of  foot,  that  are  fit  only  to 
turn  a  miller's  wheel,  pass,  for  a  mere  nothing,  from 
one  owner  to  another,  and  gall  their  necks  against 
the  collar.  So,  if  I  am  to  respect  yourself,  and  not 
your  belongings,  give  me  something  of  your  own  to 
engrave  among  your  titles,  in  addition  to  those 
honours  which  we  pay,  and  have  paid,  to  those  to 
whom  you  owe  your  all. 

71  Enough  this  for  the  youth  whom  report  has 
handed  down  to  us  as  proud  and  puffed  up  with  his 
kinship  to  Nero  :  for  in  those  high  places  regard  for 
others  is  rarely  to  be  found.  But  for  you,  Ponticus, 
I  cannot  wish  that  you  should    be,  valued  for  the 

163 
m  2 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VIII 

Pontice,  noluerim  sic  ut  nihil  ipse  futurae  7o 

laudis  agas.     miser um  est  aliorum  incumbere  tamae, 
ne  conlapsa  ruant  subductis  tecta  columnis. 
stratus  humi  palmes  viduas  desiderat  ulmos. 
esto  bonus  miles,  tutor  bonus,  arbiter  idem 
integer ;  ambiguae  si  quando  citabere  testis  6U 

incertaeque  rei,  Phalavis  licet  imperet  ut  sis 
falsus  et  admoto  dictet  periuria  tauro, 
summum  crede  nefas  animam  praeferre  pudon, 
et  propter  vitam  vivendi  perdere  causas. 
dignus  morte  perit,  cenet  licet  ostrea  centum  »D 

Gaurana  et  Cosmi  toto  mergatur  aeno. 

Expectata  diu  tandem  provincia  cum  te 
rectorem  accipiet,1  pone  irae  frena  modumque, 
pone  et  avaritiae,  miserere  inopum  sociorum  : 
ossa  vides  rerum  2  vacuis  exucta  medullis  ;  W 

respice  quid  moneant  leges,  quid  curia  mandet, 
praemia  quanta  bonos  maneant,  quam  fulmine  msto 
et  Capito  et  Numitor  ruerint  damnante  senatu, 
piratae  Cilicum.     sed  quid  danmatio  confert  ? 
praeconem,  Chaerippe,  tuis  circumspice  panms,       \)5 
cum  Pansa  eripiat  quidquid  tibi  Natta  reliquit, 
iamque  tace  ;  furor  est  post  omnia  perdere  naulum. 

1  accipiet  ty  :  accipiat  PAF. 
«  rerum  PFGU :  reguvi  ALOT. 


i  The  famous  tyrant  of  Agrigentum,  who  slowly  roasted  his 
victims  in  a  brazen  bull.  . 

2  Gaurus  was  a  hill  overlooking  the  Lucrine  lake. 

s  A  well-known  perfumer.  .. 

<  Condemned  for  extortion  in  Cihcia.  SeeTac^nn.  xm.33. 

b  The   word  piratae   is   used   because  the   Cihuans  were 

notorious  pirates.  , 

8  The  native  Cilicians  reap  no  benefit  from  the  condemna- 
tion of  the  governors. 

164 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   VIII 

glories  of  your  race  while  doing  nothing  that  shall 
bring  you  praise  in  the  days  to  come.  It  is  a  poor 
thing  to  lean  upon  the  fame  of  others,  lest  the  pillars 
give  way  and  the  house  fall  down  in  ruin.  The  vine- 
shoot,  trailing  upon  the  ground,  longs  for  the  widowed 
elm.  Be  a  stout  soldier,  a  faithful  guardian,  and  an 
incorruptible  judge  ;  if  summoned  to  bear  witness  in 
some  dubious  and  uncertain  cause,  though  Phalaris l 
himself  should  bring  up  his  bull  and  dictate  to  you 
a  perjury,  count  it  the  greatest  of  all  sins  to  prefer 
life  to  honour,  and  to  lose,  for  the  sake  of  living,  all 
that  makes  life  worth  having.  The  man  who  merits 
death  is  already  dead,  though  he  dine  off  a  hundred 
Lucrine 2  oysters,  and  bathe  in  a  whole  cauldron  of 
Cosmus'  3  essences. 

87  When  you  enter  your  long-expected  Province  as 
its  Governor,  set  a  curb  and  a  limit  to  your  passion, 
as  also  to  your  greed ;  have  compassion  on  the  im- 
poverished provincials,  whose  very  bones  have  been 
sucked  dry  of  marrow ;  have  regard  to  what  the 
law  ordains,  what  the  Senate  enjoins  ;  consider  what 
honours  await  the  good  ruler,  with  what  a  just 
thunderstroke  the  Senate  hurled  down  Capito  and 
Numitor,4  those  plunderers5  of  the  Cilicians.  Yet 
what  profit  was  there  from  their  condemnation  ? 6 
Look  out  for  an  auctioneer,  Chaerippus,7  to  sell  your 
chattels,  seeing  that  Pansa  has  stripped  you  of  all 
that  Natta  left.  And  hold  your  tongue  about  it; 
when  all  else  is  gone,  it  is  madness  to  throw  away 
your  passage-money.8 

7  Chaerippus  is  a  Cilician  native  who  is  advised  to  sell 
anything  he  has  left.  Pansa  and  Natta  are  fictitious  names 
to  denote  the  plundering  governors. 

8  i.e.  the  fee  to  be  given  to  Charon  for  the  passage  over 
the  Styx.     Some  take  it  of  the  passage-money  to  Rome. 

165 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  VIII 

Non  idem  gemitus  olim  neque  vulnus  erat  par 
damnorum  sociis  florentibus  et  modo  victis. 
plena  domustunc  omnis,  et  ingens  stabat  acervus  100 
nummovum,  Spartana  chlamys,  conchylia  Coa, 
et  cum  Parrhasii  tabulis  signisque  Myronis 
Phidiacum  vivebat  ebur,  nee  non  Polycliti 
multus  ubique  labor,  rarae  sine  Mentore  mensae. 
inde  Dolabella  [atque  hinc]  Antonius,  inde  105 

sacrilegus  Verres  referebant  navibus  altis 
occulta  spolia  et  plures  de  pace  triumphos. 
nunc  sociis  iuga  pauca  bourn,  grex  parvus  equarum, 
et  pater  armenti  capto  eripietur  agello, 
ipsi  deinde  Lares,  si  quod  spectabile  signum,  110 

si  quis  in  aedicula  deus  unicus ;  haec  etenim  sunt 
pro  summis,  iam l  sunt  haec  maxima,     despicias  tu 
forsitan  inbellis  Rhodios  unctamque  Corinthon ; 
despicias  merito  :  quid  resinata  iuventus 
cruraque  totius  facient  tibi  levia  gentis?  115 

horrida  vitanda  est  Hispania,  Gallicus  axis 
Illyricumque  latus ;  parce  et  messoribus  illis 
qui  saturant  urbem  circo  scaenaeque  vacantem  ; 
quanta  autem  inde  feres  tam  dirae  praemia  culpae, 
cum  tenuis  nuper  Marius  discinxerit  Afros  ?  120 

curandum  in  primis  ne  magna  iniuria  fiat 

1  iam  conj.  by  Biich.:  nam  Pd/  and  Biich.  (1893) :  Housm. 
conj.  quis. 

1  These  are  all  names  of  famous  Greek  artists  of  the  third 
and  fourth  centuries. 

2  Cornelius  Dolabella,  condemned  of  extortion  in  Cilicia, 

B.c.  78. 

*  C.  Antonius,  uncle  of  Mark  Antony,  expelled  from  the 

Senate  for  extortion,  B.C.  70. 
166 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  VIII 

98  Very  different  in  days  of  old  were  the  wailinga 
of  our  allies  and  the  harm  inflicted  on  them  by 
losses,  when  they  had  been  newly  conquered  and 
were  wealthy  still.  Their  houses  then  were  all 
well-stored ;  they  had  piles  of  money,  with  Spartan 
mantles  and  Coan  purples;  beside  the  paintings  of 
Parrhasius,  and  the  statues  of  Myron,  stood  the 
living  ivories  of  Phidias ;  everywhere  the  works  of 
Polyclitus  were  to  be  seen ;  few  tables  were  without 
a  Mentor.1  But  after  that  came  now  a  Dolabella,2 
now  an  Antonius,3  and  now  a  sacrilegious  Verres,4 
loading  big  ships  with  secret  spoils,  peace-trophies 
more  numerous  than  those  of  war.  Nowadays,  on 
capturing  a  farm,  you  may  rob  our  allies  of  a  few 
yoke  of  oxen,  or  a  few  mares,  with  the  sire  of  the 
herd ;  or  of  the  household  gods  themselves,  if  there 
be  a  good  statue  left,  or  a  single  Deity  in  his  little 
shrine ;  such  are  the  best  and  choicest  things  to  be 
got  now.  You  despise  perchance,  and  deservedly, 
the  unwarlike  Rhodian  and  the  scented  Corinthian : 
what  harm  will  their  resined  5  youths  do  you,  or  the 
smooth  legs  of  the  entire  breed  ?  But  keep  clear  of 
rugged  Spain,  avoid  the  land  of  Gaul  and  the  Dal- 
matian shore  ;  spare,  too,  those  harvesters 6  who  fill 
the  belly  of  a  city  that  has  no  leisure  save  for  the 
Circus  and  the  play :  what  great  profit  can  you  reap 
from  outrages  upon  Libyans,  seeing  that  Marius7 
has  so  lately  stripped  Africa  to  the  skin?  Beware 
above  all  things  to  do  no  wrong  to  men  who  are  at 

*  C.  Verres,  propraetor  of  Sicily  B.C.  73-70,  attacked  by 
Cicero  in  his  famous  Verrine  orations. 

5  Resin  was  used  as  a  depilatory. 

0  i.e.  of  Africa,  whence  came  the  main  part  of  the  Roman 
supplies  of  corn.  7  See  n.  to  i.  49. 

167 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VIII 

fortibus  et  miseris.     tollas  licet  omne  quod  usquam 

est 
auri  atque  argenti :  scutum  gladiumque  relinques. 
[et  iaculum  et  galeam  spoliatis  arma  supersunt.] 

Quod  modo  proposui,  non  est  sententia :  verum 
est,  125 

credite  me  vobis  folium  recitare  Sibyllae. 
si  tibi  sancta  cohors  comitum,  si  nemo  tribunal 
vendit  acersecomes,  si  nullum  in  coniuge  crimen 
nee  per  conventus  et  cuncta  per  oppida  curvis 
unguibus  ire  parat  nummos  raptura  Celaeno,  130 

turn  licet  a  Pico  numeres  genus,  altaque  si  te 
nomina  delectant,  omnem  Titanida  pugnam 
inter  maiores  ipsumque  Promethea  ponas, . 
de  quocumque  voles  proavum  tibi  sumito  libro. 
quod  si  praecipitem  rapit  ambitio  atque  libido,       135 
si  frangis  virgas  sociorum  in  sanguine,  si  te 
delectant  hebetes  lasso  lictore  secures, 
incipit  ipsorum  contra  te  stare  parentum 
nobilitas  claramque  facem  praeferre  pudendis. 
omne  animi  vitium  tanto  conspectius  in  se  140 

crimen  habet,  quanto  maior  qui  peccat  habetur. 
quo  mihi  te  solitum  falsas  signare  tabellas 
in  templis  quae  fecit  avus  statuamque  parentis 
ante  triumplialem  ?  quo,  si  nocturnus  adulter 
tempora  Santonico  velas  adoperta  cucullo?  145 

Praeter  maiorum  cineres  atque  ossa  volucri 
carpento  rapitur  pinguis  Lateranus,  et  ipse, 

1  A  mythical  Latin  king,  son  of  Saturn,  and   father  of 
Faunns. 

168 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  VIII 

once  brave  and  miserable.  You  may  take  from  them 
all  the  gold  and  silver  that  they  have  ;  but  plundered 
though  they  be,  they  will  still  have  their  arms  ;  they 
will  still  have  their  shields  and  their  swords,  their 
javelins  and  helmets. 

125  What  I  have  just  propounded  is  no  mere 
theme,  it  is  the  truth ;  you  may  take  it  that  I  am 
reading  out  to  you  one  of  the  Sibyl's  leaves.  If 
your  whole  staff  be  incorruptible :  if  no  long-haired 
Ganymede  sells  your  judgments;  if  your  wife  be 
blameless;  if,  in  your  circuit  through  the  towns  and 
districts,  there  is  no  Harpy  ready  to  pounce  with 
crooked  talons  upon  gold, — then  you  may  trace  back 
your  race  to  Picus x ;  if  you  delight  in  lofty  names, 
you  may  count  the  whole  array  of  Titans,  and 
Prometheus  himself,  among  your  ancestors,  and 
select  for  yourself  a  great-grandfather  from  what- 
ever myth  you  please.  But  if  you  are  carried  away 
headlong  by  ambition  and  by  lust;  if  you  break 
your  rods  upon  the  bleeding  backs  of  our  allies  ;  if 
you  love  to  see  your  axes  blunted  and  your  heads- 
men weary,  then  the  nobility  of  your  own  parents 
begins  to  rise  up  in  judgment  against  you,  and  to 
hold  a  glaring  torch  over  your  misdeeds.  The  greater 
the  sinner's  name,  the  more  signal  the  guiltiness  of 
the  sin.  If  you  are  wont  to  put  your  signature  to 
forged  deeds,  what  matters  it  to  me  that  you  sign 
them  in  temples  built  by  your  grandfather,  or  in 
front  of  the  triumphal  statue  of  your  father  ?  What 
does  that  matter,  if  you  steal  out  at  night  for 
adultery,  your  brow  concealed  under  a  cowl  of 
Gallic  wool  ? 

14e  The  bloated  Lateranus  whirls  past  the  bones 
and  ashes  of  his  ancestors  in  a  rapid  car ;  with  his 

169 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VIII 

ipse  rotam  adstringit  sufflamine  mulio1  consul. 

nocte  quidem,  sed  Luna  videt,  sed  sidera  testes 

intendunt  oculos.     finitum  tempus  honoris  150 

cum  fuerit,  clara  Lateranus  luce  flagellum 

sumet  et  occursum  numquam  trepidabit  amici 

iam  senis  ac  virga  prior  annuet,  atque  maniplos 

solvet  et  infundet  iumentis  hordea  lassis. 

interea,  dum  lanatas  robumque  iuvencum  155 

more  Numae  caedit,  Iovis  ante  altaria  iurat 

solam  Eponam  et  fades  olida  ad  praesepia  pictas. 

sed  cum  pervigiles  placet  instaurare  popinas, 

obvius  adsiduo  Syrophoenix  unctus  amomo 

currit,  Idymaeae  Syrophoenix  incola  portae,  160 

hospitis  adfectu  dominum  regemque  salutat, 

et  cum  venali  Cyane  succincta  lagona. 

Defensor  culpae  dicet  mihi  "  fecimus  et  nos 
haec  iuvenes."     esto,  desisti  nempe  nee  ultra 
fovisti  errorem.     breve  sit  quod  turpiter  audes  ;    lo5 
quaedam  cum  prima  resecentur  crimina  barba. 
indulge  veniam  pueris  :  Lateranus  ad  illos 
thermarum  calices  inscriptaque  lintea  vadit 
maturus  bello  Armeniae  Syriaeque  tuendis 
amnibus  et  Rheno  atque  Histro ;  praestare  Nero- 

nem 
securum  valet  haec  aetas.     mitte  Ostia,  Caesar, 
mitte,  sed  in  magna  legatum  quaere  popina  ; 
invenies  aliquo  cum  percussore  iacentem, 
permixtum  nautis  et  furibus  ac  fugitivis, 

i  All  edd  before  Biicheler  (1886)  read  mullo.  The  true 
reading  mulio  was  found  in  the  Florilegium  Sangallense  and 
is  confirmed  elsewhere.  See  Duffs  and  Housman  s  notes  on 
the  passage. 


i  Lateranus  is  called  mulio  as  a  term  of  reproach. 

*  A  low  quarter  of  Rome  ;  perhaps  the  Jews  quarter. 


170 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  VIII 

own  hands  this  muleteer  J  Consul  locks  the  wheel 
with  the  drag.  It  is  by  night,  indeed  :  but  the  moon 
looks  on ;  the  stars  strain  their  eyes  to  see.  When 
his  time  of  office  is  over,  Lateranus  will  take  up  his 
whip  in  broad  daylight ;  not  shrinking  to  meet  a 
now-aged  friend,  he  will  be  the  first  to  salute  him 
with  his  whip  ;  he  will  unbind  the  trusses  of  hay,  and 
deal  out  the  fodder  to  his  weary  cattle.  Meanwhile, 
though  he  slays  woolly  victims  and  tawny  steers 
after  Numa's  fashion,  he  swears  by  no  other  deity 
before  Jove's  high  altar  than  the  Goddess  of  horse- 
flesh, and  the  images  painted  on  the  reeking  stables. 
And  when  it  pleases  him  to  go  back  to  the  all-night 
tavern,  a  Syro-Phoenician  runs  forth  to  meet  him- — a 
denizen  of  the  Idumaean  gate  2  perpetually  drenched 
in  perfumes — and  salutes  him  as  lord  and  prince 
with  all  the  airs  of  a  host ;  and  with  him  comes 
Cyane,  her  dress  tucked  up,  carrying  a  flagon  of 
wine  for  sale. 

163  An  apologist  will  say  to  me,  u  We  too  did  the 
same  as  boys."  Perhaps  :  but  then  you  ceased  from 
your  follies  and  let  them  drop.  Let  your  evil  days 
be  short ;  let  some  of  your  misdoings  be  cut  off  with 
your  first  beard.3  Boys  may  be  pardoned  ;  but  when 
Lateranus  frequented  those  hot  liquor  shops  with 
their  inscribed  linen  awnings,  he  was  of  ripe  age, 
fit  to  guard  in  arms  the  Armenian  and  Syrian  rivers, 
the  Danube  and  the  Rhine ;  fit  to  protect  the  person 
of  his  Emperor.  Send  your  Legate  to  Ostia,  O 
Caesar,  but  search  for  him  in  some  big  cookshop ! 
There  you  will  find  him,  lying  cheek-by-jowl  beside 
a  cut-throat,  in  the  company  of  bargees,  thieves,  and 

3  The  first  cutting  off  of  the  beard  of  a  son  or  a  labourite 
was  attended  with  some  ceremony. 

171 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VIII 

inter  carnifices  et  fabros  sandapilarum  175 

et  resupinati  cessantia  tympana  galli. 
aequa  ibi  libertas,  communia  pocula,  lectus 
non  alius  cuiquam,  nee  mensa  remotior  ulli. 
quid  facias  talem  sortitus,  Pontice,  servum? 
nempe  in  Lucanos  aut  Tusca  ergastula  mittas.        180 
at  vos,  Troiugenae,  vobis  ignoscitis,  et  quae 
turpia  cerdoni,  Volesos  Brutumque  decebunt. 

Quid  si  numquam  adeo  foedis  adeoque  pudendis 
utimur  exemplis,  ut  non  peiora  supersint  ? 
consumptis  opibus  vocem,  Damasippe,  locasti         185 
sipario,  clamosum  ageres  ut  Phasma  Catulli. 
Laureolum  velox  etiam  bene  Lentulus  egit, 
iudice  me  dignus  vera  cruce.     nee  tamen  ipsi 
ignoscas  populo  ;  populi  frons  durior  huius 
qui  sedet  et  spectat  triscurria  patriciorum  190 

planipedes  audit  Fabios,  ridere  potest  qui 
Mamercorum  alapas.     quanti  sua  funera  vendant 
quid  refert  ?     vendunt  nullo  cogente  Nerone, 
nee  dubitant  celsi  praetoris  vendere  ludis. 
finge   tamen   gladios   inde    atque   hinc    pulpita 

poni,1  195 

quid  satius  ?     mortem  sic  quisquam  exhorruit,  ut  sit 
zelotypus  Thymeles,  stupidi  collega  Corinthi? 
1  poni  P  ;  pone  ^. 

1  Private  prisons  in  which  gangs  of  slaves  were  kept  in 

2  Siparinm  was  a  curtain  separating  the  front  part  of  the 
stage,  on  which  mimes  were  acted,  from  the  back. 

3  A  writer  of  mimi. 

4  A  highwayman  who  was  crucified. 
6  Actors  in  mimes  wore  no  shoes. 

172 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  VIII 

runaway  slaves,  beside  hangmen  and  coffin-makers, 
or  of  some  eunuch  priest  lying  drunk  with  idle 
timbrels.  Here  is  Liberty  Hall !  One  cup  serves 
for  everybody  ;  no  one  has  a  bed  to  himself,  nor 
a  table  apart  from  the  rest.  What  would  you  do, 
friend  Ponticus,  if  you  chanced  upon  a  slave  like 
this  ?  You  would  send  him  to  your  Lucanian  or 
Tuscan  bridewell.1  But  you  gentlemen  of  Trojan 
blood  find  excuses  for  yourselves ;  what  would  dis- 
grace a  huckster  sits  gracefully  on  a  Volesus  or  a 
Brutus ! 

183  What  if  I  can  never  cite  any  example  so  foul  and 
shameful  that  there  is  not  something  worse  behind  ? 
Your  means  exhausted,  Damasippus,  you  hired  out 
your  voice  to  the  stage,2  taking  the  part  of  the 
Clamorous  Ghost  of  Catullus.3  The  nimble  Lentulus 
acted  famously  the  part  of  Laureolus 4  :  deserving, 
in  my  judgment,  to  be  really  and  truly  crucified. 
Nor  can  the  spectators  themselves  be  forgiven  :  the 
populace  that  with  brazen  front  sits  and  beholds  the 
triple  buffooneries  of  our  patricians,  that  can  listen  to 
a  bare-footed  5  Fabius,  and  laugh  to  see  the  Mamerci 
cuffing  each  other.  What  matters  it  at  what  price 
they  sell  their  deaths  ?  6  No  Nero  compels  them  to 
sell ;  yet  they  hesitate  not  to  sell  themselves  at  the 
games  of  the  exalted  Praetor.  And  yet  suppose  that 
on  one  side  of  you  were  placed  a  sword,  on  the  other 
the  stage  :  which  were  the  better  choice  ?  Was  ever 
any  man  so  afraid  of  death  that  he  would  choose  to 
be  the  jealous  husband  of  a  Thymele,  or  the  colleague 
of  the  clown   Corinthus  ?     Yet  when  an  Emperor7 

s  'To  sell  their  deaths"  is  equivalent  to  "to  sell  their 
lives."     The  word  funera  may  also  suggest  that  these  de 
generate  nobles  are  destroying  the  old  glories  of  their  families. 

7  Nero. 

173 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VIII 

res  haut  mira  tamen  citharoedo  principe  mimus 
nobilis.     haec  ultra  quid  erit  nisi  ludus  ?     et    illic 
dedecus  urbis  habes,  nee  murmillonis  in  armis       200 
nee  clipeo  Gracchum  pugnantem  aut  falce  supina ; 
damnat  enim  tales  habitus,  sed  damnat  et  odit ; 
nee  galea  faciem  abscondit :  movet  ecce  tridentem. 
postquam  vibrata  pendentia  retia  dextra 
nequiquam  effudit,  nudum  ad  spectacula  vc-ltum    205 
erigit  et  tota  fugit  agnoscendus  harena. 
credamus  tunicae,  de  faucibus  aufea  cum  se 
porrigat  et  longo  iactetur  spira  galero. 
ergo  ignominiam  graviorem  pertulit  omni 
vulnere  cum  Graccho  iussus  pugnare  secutor.  210 

Libera  si  dentur  populo  suffragia,  quis  tam 
perditus  ut  dubitet  Senecam  praeferre  Neroni? 
cuius  supplicio  non  debuit  una  parari 
simia  nee  serpens  unus  nee  culleus  unus. 
par  Agamemnonidae  crimen,  sed  causa  facit  rem  215 
dissimilem  :  quippe  ille  deis  auctoribus  ultor 
patris  erat  caesi  media  inter  pocula.     sed  nee 
Electrae  iugulo  se  polluit  aut  Spartani 
sanguine  coniugii,  nullis  aconita  propinquis 
miscuit,  in  scaena  numquam  cantavit  Orestes,        220 


1  The  phrase  falce  supina  =  " a  sickle  on  its  back";  the 
point  of  the  weapon  was  bent  backwards  instead  of  forwards. 

2  It  was  a  disgrace  for  Gracchus  to  fight  as  a  retiarius. 
Having  no  armour,  he  had  to  run  away  if  he  missed  his  throw 
with  the  net.     His  adversary  was  fully  armed. 

3  Galerus  or  gahrum  was  probably  a  kind  of  helmet  or 
cap.  The  Schol.  here  says  Galerus  est  humero  impoxitus 
gladiatoris.     See  Duff  and  Mayor. 

4  Seneca  had  to  open  his  veins  by  Nero's  order. 

5  The  ancient  punishment  for  parricide  was  that  the 
criminal  should  be  tied  up  in  a  sack  along  with  a  dog,  an 
ape,  a  snake,  and  a  cock,  and  then  cast  into  the  sea. 

174 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  VIII 

has  taken  to  harp-playing,  it  is  not  so  very  strange 
that  a  noble  should  act  in  a  mime.  Beyond  this, 
what  will  be  left  but  the  gladiatorial  school  ?  And 
that  scandal  too  you  have  seen  in  our  city :  a  Grac- 
chus fighting,  not  indeed  as  a  murmillo,  nor  with  the 
round  shield  and  scimitar x :  such  accoutrements  he 
rejects,  ay  rejects  and  detests ;  nor  does  a  helmet 
shroud  his  face.  See  how  lie  wields  his  trident !  and 
when  with  poised  right  hand  he  has  cast  the  trailing 
net  in  vain,  he  lifts  up  his  bare  face  to  the  benches 
and  flies,  for  all  to  recognise,  from  one  end  of  the 
arena  to  the  other.2  We  cannot  mistake  the  golden 
tunic  that  flutters  from  his  throat,  and  the  twisted 
cord  that  dangles  from  the  high-crowned  cap  3  ;  and 
so  the  pursuer  who  was  pitted  against  Gracchus  en- 
dured a  shame  more  grievous  than  any  wound. 

an  If  free  suffrage  were  granted  to  the  people, 
who  would  be  so  abandoned  as  not  to  prefer  Seneca4 
to  Nero — Nero,  for  whose  chastisement  no  single  ape 
or  adder,  no  solitary  sack,5  should  have  been  pro- 
vided ?  His  crime  was  like  that  of  Agamemnon's 
son 6 ;  but  the  case  was  not  the  same,  seeing  that 
Orestes,  at  the  bidding  of  the  Gods,  was  avenging 
a  father  slain  in  his  cups.7  Orestes  never  stained 
himself  with  Electra's  blood,  or  with  that  of  his 
Spartan  wife  8  ;  he  never  mixed  poison-drafts  for  his 
own  kin ;  he  never  sang  upon  the  stage,9  he  never 

6  Orestes  slew  his  mother  Clytemnestra  in  revenge  for  the 
murder  of  his  father.  But  he  did  not  slay  a  sister  or  a  wife 
as  Nero  slew  his  wife  Octavia  and  his  half-sister  Antonia. 

7  So  Homer,  Od.  xi.  409.  The  tragedian's  story  is  that 
Agamemnon  was  slain  in  his  bath.  8  Hermione. 

9  In  the  year  a.d.  59  Nero  presented  himself  upon  the 
stage  (Tac.  Ann.  xiv.  15).  In  a.d.  67-8  he  made  a  tour  of 
the  Greek  games  and  won  prizes  at  many  musical  contests. 

175 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   VIII 

Troica  non  scripsit.     quid  enim  Verginius  armis 
debuit  ulcisci  magis  aut  cum  Vindice  Galba, 
quod 1  Nero  tam  saeva  crudaque  tyrannide  fecit  ? 
haec  opera  atque  hae  sunt  generosi  principis  artes, 
gaudentis  foedo  peregrina  ad  pulpita  cantu  225 

prostitui  Graiaeque  apium  meruisse  coronae. 
maiorum  effigies  habeant  insignia  vocis, 
ante  pedes  Domiti  longum  tu  pone  Thyestae 
syrma  vel  Antigones  vel  personam  Melanippes, 
et  de  marmoreo  citharam  suspende  colosso.  230 

Quid,  Catilina,  tuis  natalibus  atque  Cethegi 
inveniet  quisquam  sublimius  ?     arma  tamen  vos 
nocturna  et  flammas  domibus  templisque  paratis, 
ut  bracatorum  pueri  Senonumque  minores, 
ausi  quod  liceat  tunica  punire  molesta.  235 

sed  vigilat  consul  vexillaque  vestra  coercet ; 
hie  novus  Arpinas,  ignobilis  et  modo  Romae 
municipalis  eques,  galeatum  ponit  ubique 
praesidium  attonitis  et  in  omni  monte  laborat. 
tantum  igitur  muros  intra  toga  contulit  illi  240 

1  quod  Madvig  :  quid  P^. 

1  Verginius  Rufus,  Legate  of  Upper  Germany,  defeated 
the  revolting  Vindex,  and  refused  to  be  named  emperor  after 
Galha's  death  in  a.d.  69. 

2  C.  Julius  Vindex,  propraetor  of  the  province  Lugdu- 
nensis,  revolted  against  Nero  in  A.D.  68,  and  was  defeated 
by  Verginius.  . 

3  Not  the  father  of  Nero,  but  one  of  his  distinguished 
ancestors  on  his  father's  side.  Nero's  name  before  his 
adoption  by  Claudius  was  L.  Domitius  Ahenobarbua. 

4  Tragic  parts  acted  by  Nero. 

176 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  VIII 

wrote  an  Epic  upon  Troy !  For  of  all  the  deeds  of 
Nero's  cruel  and  bloody  tyranny,  which  was  there 
that  more  deserved  to  be  avenged  by  the  arms  of  a 
Verginius,1  of  a  Vindex 2  or  a  Galba  ?  These  were 
the  deeds,  these  the  graces  of  our  high-born  Prince, 
whose  delight  it  was  to  prostitute  himself  by  un- 
seemly singing  upon  a  foreign  stage,  and  to  earn  a 
chaplet  of  Greek  parsley  !  Let  thy  ancestral  images 
be  decked  with  the  trophies  of  thy  voice  !  Place 
thou  at  the  feet  of  a  Domitius3  the  trailing  robe  of 
Thyestes4  or  Antigone,4  or  the  mask  of  Melanippa,4 
and  hang  up  thy  harp  on  a  colossus  5  of  marble  ! 

231  Where  can  be  found,  O  Catiline,  nobler  ances- 
tors than  thine,  or  than  thine,  Cethegus  ?  6  Yet  you 
plot  a  night  attack,  you  prepare  to  give  our  houses 
and  temples  to  the  flames  as  though  you  were  the 
sons  of  trousered  7  Gauls,  or  sprung  from  the  Senones,8 
daring  deeds  that  deserved  the  shirt  of  torture.9  But 
our  Consul 10  is  awake,  and  beats  back  your  hosts. 
Born  at  Arpinum,  of  ignoble  blood,  a  municipal 
knight  new  to  Rome,  he  posts  helmeted  men  at 
every  point  to  guard  the  affrighted  citizens,  and  is 
alert  on  every  hill.  Thus  within  the  walls  his  toga 
won  for  him  as  much  name  and  honour  as  Octavius 

6  This  is  doubtless  meant  as  a  hit  at  the  famous  bronze 
Colossus  of  Nero. 

6  C.  Cornelius  Cethegus  was  the  most  prominent  associate 
of  Catiline  in  the  long-nursed  conspiracy  which  was  crushed 
by  Cicero  as  consul  in  B.C.  63. 

7  Narbonese  Gaul  was  called  bracata  because  its  inhabi- 
tants wore  trousers. 

8  The  Gauls  who  defeated  the  Romans  in  the  battle  of  the 
Allia,  B.C.  390. 

9  A  shirt  lined  with  pitch  in  which  the  victims  were  burnt 
to  death.     See  above  i.  115  and  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  44. 

10  Cicero. 

Ill 
N 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  VIII 

nominis  ac  tituli,  quantum  [in  *]  Leucade,  quantum 

Thessaliae  campis  Octavius  abstulit  udo 

caedibus  adsiduis  gladio ;  sed  Roma  parentem, 

Roma  patrem  patriae  Ciceronem  libera  dixit. 

Arpinas  alius  Volscorum  in  monte  solebat  245 

poscere  mercedes  alieno  lassus  aratro, 

nodosam  post  haec  frangebat  vertice  vitem, 

si  lentus  pigra  muniret  castra  dolabra  ; 

hie  tamen  et  Cimbros  et  summa  pericula  rerum 

excipit  et  solus  trepidantem  protegit  urbem.  250 

atque   ideo,  postquam   ad    Cimbros  stragemque 

volabant 
qui  numquam  attigerant  maiora  cadavera  corvi, 
nobilis  ornatur  lauro  collega  secunda. 

Plebeiae  Deciorum  animae,  plebeia  fuerunt 
nomina ;  pro  totis  legionibus  hi  tamen  et  pro        255 
omnibus  auxiliis  atque  omni  pube  Latina 
sufficiunt  dis  infernis  Terraeque  parenti ; 
[pluris  enim  Decii  quam  quae  servantur  ab  illis.] 

Ancilla  natus  trabeam  et  diadema  Quirini 
et  fasces  meruit,  regum  ultimus  ille  bonorum.       260 
prodita  laxabant  portarum  claustra  tyrannis 
exulibus  iuvenes  ipsius  consulis  et  quos 

1  If  we  read  in  with  PSGU  the  line  is  deficient  metrically. 
\fz  has  non  :  Owen  conj.  vi. 

1  The  island  of  Leucas  here  stands  for  the  battle  of  Ac- 
tium,  though  it  was  many  miles  distant  from  the  place 
where  the  battle  was  fought. 

a  The  battle  of  Philippi  (B.C.  42)  is  meant,  though  Philippi 
was  in  Macedonia,  not  in  Thessaly.  The  battle  fought  in 
Thessaly  was  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  B.C.  49.  The  Roman 
poets  confound  the  two  battles. 

178 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  VIII 

gained  by  battle  in  Leucas l ;  as  much  as  Octavius 
won  by  his  blood-dripping  sword  on  the  plains  of 
Thessaly2;  but  then  Rome  was  yet  free  when  she 
styled  him  the  Parent  and  Father  of  his  country  ! 
Another  son  of  Arpinum  3  used  to  work  for  hire  upon 
the  Volscian  hills,  toiling  behind  a  plough  not  his 
own  ;  after  that,  a  centurion's  knotty  staff  would  be 
broken  over  his  head4  if  his  pick  were  slow  and 
sluggish  in  the  trench.  Yet  it  is  he  who  faces  the 
Cimbri,5  and  the  mightiest  perils  ;  alone  he  saves  the 
trembling  city.  And  so  when  the  ravens,  who  had 
never  before  seen  such  huge  carcasses,  flew  down 
upon  the  slaughtered  Cimbri,  his  high-born  colleague 
is  decorated  with  the  second  bay. 

254  Plebeian  were  the  souls  of  the  Decii,6  plebeian 
were  their  names ;  yet  they  were  accepted  by  the 
Gods  beneath  and  by  Mother  Earth  in  lieu  of  all  the 
Legions  and  the  allies,  and  all  the  youth  of  Latium, 
for  the  Decii  were  more  precious  than  the  hosts 
whom  they  saved. 

259  It  was  one  born  of  a  slave  who  won  the  robe 
and  diadem  and  fasces  of  Quirinus — the  last  he  of 
our  good  Kings7 — whereas  the  Consul's  own  sons, 
who  should  have  dared  some  great  thing  for  en- 
dangered liberty — some  deed  to  be  marvelled  at  by 

3  C.  Marins. 

4  i.  e.  he  served  as  a  private  soldier. 

5  The  Cimbri  and  Teutones  were  utterly  defeated  by 
Marias  and  his  colleague  Q.  Lutatius  Catulus  on  the  Raudian 
plain  in  B.C.  101.  Catulus  shared  in  the  triumph,  but  all 
the  honour  was  given  to  Marins. 

6  P.  Decius  Mus,  in  the  Latin  War,  B.C.  340,  gained  the 
victory  for  the  Romans  by  devoting  himself  and  the  enemy 
to  destruction  ;  his  son  did  the  same  in  the  battle  of  Sen- 
tinum,  B.C.  295. 

7  Servius  Tullius. 

179 

N     2 


IVVENALIS  SATVRA   IX 

magnum  aliquid  dubia  pro  libertate  deceret, 
quod  miraretur  cum  Coclite  Mucius  et  quae 
imperii  fines  Tiberinum  virgo  natavit  :  265 

occulta  ad  patres  produxit  crimina  servus 
matronis  lugendus,  at  illos  verbera  iustis 
adficiunt  poenis  et  legum  prima  securis. 

Malo  pater  tibi  sit  ThersiteSj  dummodo  tu  sis 
Aeacidae  similis  Vulcaniaque  arma  capessas,  270 

quam  te  Thersitae  similem  producat  Achilles, 
et  tamem  ut  longe  repetas  longeque  revolvas 
nomen,  ab  infami  gentem  deducis  asylo  : 
maiorum  primus,  quisquis  fuit  ille,  tuorum 
aut  pastor  fuit  aut  illud  quod  dicere  nolo.  275 


SATVRA  IX 

Scire  velim,  quare  totiens  mihi,  Naevole,  tristis 
occurras,  fronte  obducta  ceu  Marsya  victus. 
quid  tibi  cum  vultu,  qualem  deprensus  habebat 
Ravola,  dum  Rhodopes  uda  terit  inguina  barba  ? 
nos  colaphum  incutimus  lambenti  crustula  servo, 
non  erit  hac  facie  miserabilior  Crepereius 


i 


Horatius  Codes,  who  "  kept  the  bridge  so  well";  Mucius 
Scaevola,  to  show  his  courage,  put  his  hand  into  the  flames  in 
Porsena's  camp. 

I  So 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   IX 

Mucius  or  Codes,1  or  by  the  maiden 2  who  swam 
across  the  river-boundary  of  our  realm — were  for 
traitorously  loosing  the  bolts  of  the  city  gates  to  the 
exiled  tyrants.  It  was  a  slave — well  worthy  he  to 
be  bewailed  by  matrons — who  revealed  the  secret 
plot  to  the  Fathers,  while  the  sons  met  their  just 
punishment  from  scourging  and  from  the  axe  then 
first  used  in  the  cause  of  Law. 

260  j  would  rather  that  Thersites  were  your  father 
if  only  you  were  like  the  grandson  of  Aeacus,3  and 
could  wield  the  arms  of  Vulcan,  than  that  you  should 
have  been  begotten  by  Achilles  and  be  like  Thersites. 
Yet,  after  all,  however  far  you  may  trace  back  your 
name,  however  long  the  roll,  you  derive  your  race 
from  an  ill-famed  asylum  :  the  first  of  your  ancestors, 
whoever  he  was,  was  either  a  shepherd  or  something 
that  I  would  rather  not  name. 


SATIRE  IX 

The  Sorrows  of  a   Reprobate 

I  should  like  to  know,  Naevolus,  why  you  so  often 
look  gloomy  when  I  meet  you,  knitting  your  brow 
like  a  vanquished  Marsyas.4  What  have  you  to  do 
with  the  look  that  Ravola  wore  when  caught  playing 
that  dirty  trick  with  Rhodope  ?  If  a  slave  takes  a 
lick  at  the  pastiy,  he  gets  a  thrashing  for  his  pains! 
Why  do  you  look  as  woe-begone  as  Crepereius  Pollio 

2  Cloelia,  the  hostage  who  escaped  by  swimming  across  the 
Tiber. 

3  Achilles  is  called  Aeacides  as  he  was  the  grandson  of 
Aeacus. 

4  Flayed  by  Apollo  when  beaten  in  a  musical  contest. 

181 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   IX 

Pollio,  qui  triplicem  usuram  praestare  paratus 

eircumit  et  fatuos  non  invenit.     unde  repente 

tot  rugae  ?     certe  modico  contentus  agebas 

vernam  equitem,  conviva  ioco  mordente  facetus      10 

et  salibus  vehemens  intra  pomeria  natis. 

omnia  nunc  contra  :  vultus  gravis,  horrida  siccae 

silva  comae,  nullus  tota  nitor  in  cute,  qualem 

Bruttia  praestabat  calidi  tibi  fascia  visci,1 

sed  fruticante  pilo  neglecta  et  squalida  crura.  15 

quid  macies  aegri  veteris,  quern  tempore  Ion  go 

torret  quarta  dies  olimque  domes tica  febris  ? 

deprendas  animi  tormenta  latentis  in  aegro 

corpore,  deprendas  et  gaudia  ;  sumit  utrumque 

inde  habitum  facies.     igitur  flexisse  videris  20 

propositum  et  vitae  contrarius  ire  priori. 

nuper  enim,  ut  repeto,  fanum  Isidis  et  Ganymedem 

Pacis  et  advectae  secreta  Palatia  matris 

et  Cererem  (nam  quo  non  prostat  femina  templo  ?) 

notior  Aufidio  moechus  celebrare  2  solebas,  25 

quodque  taces,  ipsos  etiam  inclinare  maritos. 

"  Utile  et  boc  multis  vitae  genus,  at  mihi  nullum 
inde  operae  pretium.     pingues  aliquando  lacernas, 
munimenta  togae,  duri  crassique  colons 
et  male  percussas  textoris  pectine  Galli  30 

accipimus,  tenue  argentum  venaeque  secundae. 
fata  regunt  homines,  fatum  est  et  partibus  illis 
ouas  sinus  abscondit.     nam  si  tibi  sidera  cessant, 
nil  faciet  longi  mensura  incognita  nervi, 
quamvis  te  nudum  spumanti  Virro  labello  35 

viderit  et  blandae  adsidue  densaeque  tabellae 

1  GU  give  this  line  in  two  places,  here  and  after  line  11. 
The  reading  is  uncertain.  Owen  reads  lita  for  tibi,  taken 
from  circumlita  in  i^. 

2  scelerare  P  Biich. :  celebrare  ^  ( "  f or tasse  melius    Housm. ). 

182 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  IX 

when  he  goes  round  offering  a  triple  rate  of  interest, 
and  can  find  no  fool  to  trust  him  ?  Why  have  you 
suddenly  developed  those  wrinkles?  You  used  to  be 
an  easily  contented  person,  who  passed  as  a  home-bred 
knight  that  could  make  biting  jests  at  the  dinner- 
table  and  tell  witty  town-bred  stories.  But  now 
you  are  a  different  man.  You  have  a  hang-dog  look  ; 
your  head  is  a  forest  of  unkempt,  unanointed  hair ; 
your  skin  has  lost  all  the  gloss  that  it  got  from 
swathes  of  hot  Bruttian  pitch,  and  your  legs  are 
dirty  and  rough  with  sprouting  hair.  Why  are  you 
as  thin  as  a  chronic  invalid  in  whom  a  quartan  fever 
has  long  made  its  home  ?  One  can  detect  in  a 
sickly  body  the  secret  torments  of  the  soul,  as  also 
its  joys :  the  face  takes  on  the  stamp  of  either. 
You  seem,  therefore,  to  have  changed  your  mode  of 
life,  and  to  be  going  in  a  way  opposite  to  your  past. 
Not  long  ago,  as  I  remember,  you  were  a  gallant 
more  notorious  than  Aufidius ;  you  used  to  frequent 
the  Temple  of  Isis  and  that  of  Peace  with  its 
Ganymede,  and  the  secret  courts  of  the  Foreign 
Mother — for  in  what  temple  are  there  not  frail  fair 
ones  to  be  found  ? 

27  "  Many  men  have  found  profit  in  my  mode 
of  life;  but  I  have  made  nothing  substantial  out 
of  my  labours.  I  sometimes  have  a  greasy  cloak  given 
me  that  will  save  my  toga— a  coarse  and  crudely 
dyed  garment  that  has  been  ill-combed  by  the 
Gallic  weaver — or  some  trifle  in  silver  of  an  in- 
ferior quality.  Man  is  ruled  by  destiny ;  even  those 
parts  of  him  that  lie  beneath  his  clothes.  .  .  .  What 

183 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    IX 

sollicitent,  auros  yap  e<£e'A./ceTai  avSpa  KiVaiSos. 
quod  tamen  ulterius  monstrum  quam  mollis  avarus  ? 
chaec  tribui,  deinde  ilia  dedi,  mox  plura  tulisti ' ; 
computat,  et  cevet.     ponatur  calculus,  adsint  40 

cum  tabula  pueri ;  numera1  sestertia  quinque 
omnibus  in  rebus  :  numerentur  deinde  labores. 
an  facile  et  pronum  est  agere  intra  viscera  penem 
legitimum  atque  illic  hesternae  occurrere  cenae  ? 
servus  erit  minus  ille  miser  qui  foderit  agrum,         45 
quam  dominum  ;  sed  tu  sane  tenerum  et  puerum  te 
et  pulchrum  et  dignum  cyatho  caeloque  putabas. 
vos  liumili  adseculae,  vos  indulgebitis  umquam 
cultori,  iam  nee  morbo  donare  parati  ? 
en  cui  tu  viridem  umbellain,  cui  sucina  mittas  50 

grandia,  natalis  quotiens  redit  aut  madidum  ver 
incipit  et  strata  positus  longaque  cathedra 
munera  femineis  tractat  secreta  kalendis. 

"  Die,  passer,  cui  tot  montis,  tot  praedia  servas 
Apula,  tot  milvos  intra  tua  pascua  lassos  ?  55 

te  Trifolinus  ager  fecundis  vitibus  implet 
suspectumque  iugum  Cumis  et  Gaurus  inanis — 
nam  quis  plura  linit  victuro  dolia  musto  ? — 
quantum  erat  exhausti  lumbos  donare  clientis 
iugeribus  piucis  ?    meliusne  hie  2  rusticus  infans     GO 
cum  matre  et  casulis  et  conlusore  catello 
cymbala  pulsantis  legatum  fiet  amici  ? 
'improbus  es  cum  poscis/  ait.    sed  pensio  clamat 
'  posce  ' ;  sed  appellat  puer  unicus  ut  Polyphemi 
lata  acies  per  quam  sollers  evasit  Vlixes ;  65 

1  numera  \p  :  numeras  P. 

2  For  nt  hie  (P\p)  Housm.  conj.  nunc. 


1  The  1st  of  March  ;  see  Hop.  Qd,  ni.  viii.  1. 
184 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   IX 

greater  monster  is  there  in  the  world  than  a  miserly 
debauchee?  'I  gave  you  this/  says  he,  'and  then 
that ;  and  later  again  ever  so  much  more.'  Thus  he 
makes  a  reckoning  with  his  lusts.  Well,  set  out  the 
counters,  call  in  the  lads  with  the  reckoning  board, 
count  out  five  thousand  sesterces  all  told,  and  then 
enumerate  my  services.  ...  I  am  less  accounted  of 
than  the  poor  hind  who  ploughs  his  master's  field. 
You  used  to  deem  yourself  a  delicate  and  good- 
looking  youth,  fit  to  be  Jove's  own  cup-bearer  ;  but 
will  men  like  you,  who  are  unwilling  to  pay  for  your 
own  morbid  pleasures,  ever  show  a  kindness  to  a 
poor  follower  or  a  slave  ?  A  pretty  fellow  to  have 
presents  sent  him  of  green  sunshades  or  big  amber 
balls  on  a  birthday,  or  on  the  first  day  of  showery 
spring,  when  he  lolls  at  full  length  in  a  huge  easy 
chair  counting  over  the  secret  gifts  he  has  received 
upon  the  Matron's  Day ! 1 

54  "Tell  me,  you  sparrow,  for  whose  benefit  are  you 
keeping  all  those  hills  and  farms  in  Apulia,  all  those 
pasture-lands  that  tire  out  the  kites  ?  Your  stores 
are  filled  with  rich  grapes  from  your  Trifoline  vine- 
yard, or  from  the  slopes  that  look  down  upon  Cumae, 
or  the  unpeopled  Gam-us ;  whose  vats  seal  up 
more  vintages  destined  for  long  life  than  yours  ? 
Would  it  be  a  great  matter  to  present  a  few  acres  to 
the  loins  of  an  exhausted  client  ?  Is  it  better,  think 
you,  that  this  country  woman,  with  her  cottage  and 
her  babe  and  her  pet  dog,  should  be  bequeathed  to  a 
friend  who  plays  the  timbrels  ?  '  You're  an  impudent 
beggar,'  you  say.  Yes,  but  my  rent  cries  on  me  to 
beg ;  and  so  does  my  single  slave-lad — as  single  as 
that  big  eye  of  Polyphemus  which  helped  the  wily 
Ulysses  to  make  his  escape.     And  one  slave  is  not 

185 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA    IX 

alter  emendus  erit,  namque  hie  non  sufficit,  ambo 
pascendi.  quid  agam  bruma  spirante  ?  quid,  oro, 
quid  dicam  scapulis  puerorum  aquilone  Decembri 
et  pedibus  ?     '  durate  atque  expectate  cicadas '  ? 

«  Verum  ut  dissimules,  ut  mittas  cetera,  quanto     70 
metiris  pretio,  quod  ni  tibi  deditus  essem 
devotusque  cliens,  uxor  tua  virgo  maneret  ? 
scis  certe  quibus  ista  modis,  quam  saepe  rogaris, 
et  quae  pollicitus.     fugientem  saepe  puellam 
amplexu  rapui ;  tabulas  quoque  ruperat  et  iam        75 
signabat :  tota  vix  hoc  ego  nocte  redemi 
te  plorante  foris ;  testis  mihi  lectulus  et  tu, 
ad  quem  pervenit  lecti  sonus  et  dominae  vox. 
instabile  ac  dirimi  coeptum  et  iam  paene  solutum 
coniuo-ium  in  multis  domibus  servavit  adulter.  80 

quo  te  circumagas  ?    quae  prima  aut  ultima  ponas  ? 
nullum  ergo  meritum  est,  ingrate  ac  perfide,  nullum, 
quod  tibi  filiolus  vel  filia  nascitur  ex  me  ? 
tollis  enim  et  libris  actorum  spargere  gaudes 
aro-umenta  viri.     foribus  suspende  coronas  :  85 

iam  pater  es,  dedimus  quod  famae  opponere  possis. 
iura  parentis  habes,  propter  me  scriberis  heres, 
legatum  omne  capis  nee  non  et  dulce  caducum. 
commoda  praeterea  iungentur  multa  caducis, 
si  numerum,  si  tres  implevero." 

Iusta  doloris,        90 
Naevole,  causa  tui ;  contra  tamen  ille  quid  adfert  ? 
"neo-legit  atque  alium  bipedem  sibi  quaerit  asellum. 
haec  soli  commissa  tibi  celare  memento 
et  tacitus  nostras  intra  te  fige  querellas. 


186 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   IX 

enough ;  I  shall  have  to  buy  a  second  and  feed  them 
both.  What  shall  I  do,  pray,  when  the  winter 
howls  ?  What  shall  I  say  to  their  shivering  feet  and 
shoulders  when  December's  north  wind  blows  ? 
Shall  I  say  '  Hold  on,  and  wait  till  the  grasshoppers 
arrive '  ? 

70  "  And  though  you  ignore  and  pass  by  my  other 
services,  Avhat  price  do  you  put  on  this,  that  were  I 
not  your  true  and  devoted  client,  your  wife  would  still 
be  a  maid  ?  You  know  how  often,  and  in  what  ways, 
you  have  asked  that  service  of  me,  and  what  promises 
you  made  to  me.  .  .  .  There's  many  a  household  in 
which  a  union  that  was  unstable,  ready  to  break  up, 
and  all  but  dissolved,  has  been  saved  by  the  inter- 
vention of  a  lover.  Which  way  can  you  turn  ?  Which 
service  do  you  put  first,  which  last?  Is  it  to  be  no 
merit,  you  thankless  and  perfidious  man,  none  at  all, 
that  I  have  presented  you  with  a  little  son  or  daugh- 
ter ?  For  you  rear  the  children,  and  love  to  spread 
abroad  in  the  gazette  the  proofs  of  your  virility.  Hang 
up  garlands  over  your  door  !  You  are  now  a  father ; 
I  have  given  you  something  to  set  up  against  ill  fame. 
You  have  now  parental  rights ;  through  me  )-ou  can 
be  entered  as  an  heir,  and  receive  a  legacy  entire, 
with  a  nice  little  extra  into  the  bargain  ;  to  all  which 
perquisites  many  more  will  be  added  if  I  make  up 
your  family  to  the  full  number  of  three." 

90  Indeed,  Naevolus,  you  have  just  cause  of  com- 
plaint. But  what  has  he  got  to  say  on  the  other 
side  ?  "  He  takes  no  notice,  and  looks  out  for  another 
two-legged  donkey  like  myself.  But  remember,  my 
secrets  are  for  your  ears  alone ;  keep  my  complaints 
fast  locked  up  in  your  own  bosom.  It  is  a  fatal 
thing  to  have   for  your  enemy  a  man  who    keeps 

187 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   IX 

nam  res  mortifera  est  inimicus  pumice  levis ;  95 

qui  modo  secretum  commiserate  ardet  et  odit, 
tamquam  prodiderim  quidquid  scio.    sumere  ferrum, 
fuste  aperire  caput,  candelam  adponere  valvis 
non  dubitat.     nee  contemnas  aut  despicias  quod 
his  opibus  numquam  cara  est  annona  veneni.  100 

ergo  occulta  teges  ut  curia  Martis  Athenis." 

0  Corydon,  Corydon,  secretum  divitis  ullum 
esse  putas  ?     servi  ut  taceant,  iumenta  loquentur 
et  canis  et  postes  et  marmora.     claude  fenestras, 
vela  tegant  rimas,  iunge  ostia,  tollite  lumen,  105 
e  medio  fac  eant  omnes,  prope  nemo  recumbat : 
quod  tamen  ad  can  turn  galli  facit  ille  secundi, 
proximus  ante  diem  caupo  sciet,  audiet  et  quae 
finxerunt  pariter  libarius  archimagiri 

carptores.  quod  enim  dubitant  componere  crimen  110 
in  dominos,  quotiens  rumoribus  ulciscuntur 
baltea  ?  nee  derit  qui  te  per  compita  quaerat 
nolentem  et  miseram  vinosus  inebriet  aurem. 
illos  ergo  i-oges  quidquid  paulo  ante  petebas 
a  nobis,  taceant  illi.     sed  prodere  malunt  115 

arcanum,  quam  subrepti  potare  Falerni 
pro  populo  faciens  quantum  Saufeia  bibebat. 
vivendum  recte  cum  propter  plurima  turn  est  his1 
[idcirco  ut  possis  linguam  contemnere  servi.] 
praecipue  causis,  ut  linguas  mancipiorum  1 20 

contemnas.    nam  lingua  mali  pars  pessima  servi ; 

1  turn  est  his.     So  Housm.  instead  of  the  tunc  est  of  PA. 
188 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   IX 

himself  smooth  by  pumice-stone  !  The  man  who  has 
lately  entrusted  me  with  a  secret  has  a  consuming 
hatred  of  me,  believing  I  have  revealed  everything 
that  I  know;  he  will  not  hesitate  to  take  up  a  sword, 
or  to  lay  open  my  head  with  a  club,  or  to  put  a 
lighted  candle  against  my  door.  Nor  can  you  dis- 
regard or  make  nothing  of  the  fact  that  for  a  man  of 
his  means  the  price  of  poison  is  never  high.  So 
keep  my  secrets  close — as  close  as  did  the  Council 
of  Areopagus ! " 

102  O  my  poor  Corydon !  Do  you  suppose  that 
a  rich  man  has  any  secrets  ?  Though  his  slaves  hold 
their  tongues,  his  beasts  of  burden  and  his  dog  will 
talk  ;  his  door  posts  and  his  marble  columns  will  tell 
tales.  Let  him  shut  the  windows,  and  close  every 
chink  with  curtains  ;  let  him  fasten  the  doors,  remove 
the  light,  turn  everyone  out  of  the  house,  and  permit 
no  one  to  sleep  in  it — yet  the  tavern-keeper  close 
by  will  know  before  dawn  what  he  was  doing  at  the 
second  cock-crow ;  he  will  hear  also  all  the  tales 
invented  by  the  pastry-man,  by  the  head  cook  and 
the  carver.  For  what  calumny  will  they  hesitate  to 
concoct  against  their  masters  when  a  slander  will 
avenge  them  for  their  strappings  ?  Nor  will  some 
tippling  friend  be  wanting  to  look  for  you  at  the 
crossways,  and,  do  what  you  will,  pour  his  drunken 
story  into  your  ear.  So  just  ask  those  people  to  hold 
their  tongues  about  the  things  you  questioned  me 
about  just  now !  Why,  they  would  rather  blab  out 
a  secret  than  drink  as  much  stolen  wine  as  Saufeia 
used  to  swill  when  conducting  a  public  sacrifice. 
There  are  many  reasons  for  right  living;  but  the 
chiefest  of  them  all  is  this,  that  you  need  pay  no 
attention  to  the  talk  of  your  slaves.     For  the  tongue 

189 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   IX 

deterior  tamen  hie  qui  liber  non  erit  illis, 
quorum  animas  et  farre  suo  custodit  et  aere. 

"  Utile  consilium  modo,  sed  commune,  dedisti. 
nunc  mihi  quid  suades  post  damnum  temporis  et 

spes  125 

deceptas  ?  festinat  enim  decurrere  velox 
nosculus  angustae  miseraeque  brevissima  vitae 
portio  ;  dum  bibimus,  dum  serta  unguenta  puellas 
poscimuSj  obrepit  non  intellecta  senectus." 

Ne  trepida,  numquam  pathicus  tibi  derit  amicus  130 
stantibus  et  salvis  his  collibus :  undique  ad  illos 
convenient  et  carpentis  et  navibus  omnes 
qui  digito  scalpunt  uno  caput,     altera  maior 
spes  superest ;  tu  tantum  erucis  inprime  dentem.1 
[gratus  eris  ;  tu  tantum  erucis  inprime  dentem.]    134a 

"  Haec  exempla  para  felicibus.  at  mea  Clotho   135 
et  Lachesis  gaudent,  si  pascitur  inguine  venter. 
o  parvi  nostrique  Lares,  quos  ture  minuto 
aut  farre  et  tenui  soleo  exorare  corona, 
quando  ego  figam  aliquid,  quo  sit  mihi  tuta  senectus 
a  tegete  et  baculo  ?  viginti  milia  faenus  140 

pigneribus  positis,  argenti  vascula  puri, 
sed  quae  Fabricius  censor  notet,  et  duo  fortes 
de  grege  Moesorum.  qui  me  cervice  locata 
securum  iubeant  clamoso  insistere  circo  ; 
sit  mihi  praeterea  curvus  caelator,  et  alter  145 

qui  multas  facies  pingit  cito ;  sufficiunt  haec, 
quando  ego  pauper  ero  ;  votum  miserabile,  nee  spes 

1  After  line  134  P  has  the  line  bracketed  above,  being 
mainly  a  repetition  of  that  line.  Housman  conjectures  an 
omission  of  five  words,  and  reads  the  lines  thus  : 

altera  maior 
spes  superest  ;  turbae,  properat  quae  crescere,  molli 
gratus  eris,  tu  tantum  erucis  imprime  dentem. 

190 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   IX 

is  the  worst  part  of  a  bad  slave  ;  and  yet  worse  still  is 
the  plight  of  a  man  who  cannot  escape  from  the  talk 
of  those  whom  he  supports  with  his  own  bread  and 
money. 

124  «  your  advice  is  excellent,  but  it  is  vague.  What 
do  you  advise  me  to  do  now,  after  all  my  lost  time 
and  disappointed  hopes?  for  the  short  span  of  our 
poor  unhappy  life  is  hurrying  swiftly  on,  like  a  flower, 
to  its  close  :  while  we  drink,  and  call  for  chaplets,  for 
unguents,  and  for  maidens,  old  age  is  creeping  on  us 
unperceived." 

130  Be  not  afraid ;  so  long  as  these  seven  hills  of 
ours  stand  fast,  pathic  friends  will  never  fail  you  : 
from  every  quarter,  in  carnages  and  in  ships,  those 
gentry  who  scratch  their  heads  with  one  finger  will 
flock  in.  And  you  have  always  a  further  and 
better  ground  of  hope — if  you  fit  your  diet  to  your 
trade. 

135  "  Such  maxims  are  for  the  fortunate  ;  my  Clotho 
and  Lachesis  are  well  pleased  if  I  can  fill  my  belly 
with  my  labours.  O  my  own  little  Lares,  whom  I  am 
wont  to  supplicate  with  a  pinch  of  frankincense  or 
corn,  or  with  a  tiny  garland,  when  can  I  assure  myself 
of  what  will  keep  my  old  days  from  the  beggar's  staff 
and  mat  ?  Twenty  thousand  sesterces,  well  secured  ; 
some  vessels  of  plain  silver — yet  such  as  Censor 
Fabricius  would  have  condemned — and  a  couple  of 
stout  Moesian  porters  on  whose  hired  necks  I  may  be 
taken  comfortably  to  my  place  in  the  bawling  circus. 
Let  me  have  besides  a  stooping  engraver,  and  a 
painter  who  will  quickly  dash  off  any  number  of  like- 
nesses. Enough  this  for  a  poor  man  like  me.  It  is  a 
pitiful  prayer,  and  I  have  little  hope  even  of  that ; 


191 


IVVENALIS  SATVRA  X 

his  saltern  ;  nam  cum  pro  me  Fortuna  vocatur, 

adfixit  ceras  ilia  de  nave  petitas, 

quae  Siculos  cantus  effugit  remige  surdo."  150 


SATVRA  X 

Omnibus  in  terris,  quae  sunt  a  Gadibus  usque 
Auroram  et  Gangen,  pauci  dinoscere  possunt 
vera  bona  atque  illis  multum  diversa,  remofa 
erroris  nebula,     quid  enim  ratione  timemus 
aut  cupimus  ?  quid  tam  dextro  pede  concipis,  ut  te    5 
cona'fns  non  paeniteat  votique  peracti  ? 
evertere  domos  totas  optantibus  ipsis 
di  faciles.     nocitura  toga,  nocitura  petuntur 
militia  ;  torrens  dicendi  copia  multis 
et  sua  mortifera  est  facundia,  viribus  ille  10 

confisus  periit  admirandisque  lacertis, 
sed  plures  nimia  congesta  pecunia  cura 
strangulat  et  cuncta  exuperans  patrimonia  census 
quanto  delphinis  ballaena  Britannica  maior. 
temporibus  diris  igitur  iussuque  Neronis  15 

Longinum  et  magnos  Senecae  praedivitis  hortos 
clausit  et  egregias  Lateranorum  obsidet  aedes 
tota  cohors  :  rarus  venit  in  cenacula  miles. 


1  Ulysses  stuffed  the  ears  of  his  followers  with  wax  tc 
prevent  them  hearing  the  voices  of  the  Sirens  {Od.  xii. 
39  foil.). 


192 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   X 

A'*  whenever  Fortune  is  supplicated  on  my  behalf, 
a  3  plugs  her  ears  with  wax  fetched  from  that  self- 
same   ship   which    escaped    from   the   Sicilian  song- 
stresses through  the  deafness  of  her  crew."1 


SATIRE  X 

The  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes 

In  all  the  lands  that  stretch  from  Gades  to  the 
Ganges  and  the  Morn,_there  are  but  few  who  can 
distinguish  true  blessings  from  their  opposites,  put- 
ting aside  the  mists  pt  error.  For  when  does  Reason 
direct  our  desires  or  our  tears  ?  What  project  do  we 
form  so  auspiciously  that  we  do  not  repent  us  of  our 
effort  and  of  the  granted  wish  ?  Whole  households 
have  been  destroyed  by  the  compliant  Gods  in 
answer  to  the  masters'  prayers ;  jn  mrt^p  anrl^aity 
ajike  we  ask  for  things  that  will  be  our  ruin.  Many  a 
man  has  met  death  from  the  rushing  flood  of  his  own 
eloquence ;  others  from  the  strength  and  wondrous 
thews  in  which  they  have  trusted.  More  still  have 
been  ruined  by  money  too  carefully  amazed,  and  by 
fortunes  that  surpass  all  patrimonies  by  as  much  as  the 
British  whale  exceeds  the  dolphin.  It  was  for  this 
that  in  the  dire  days  Nero  ordered  Longinus2  and 
the  great  gardens  of  the  over-wealthy  Seneca  3  to  be 
put  under  siege ;  for  this  was  it  that  the  noble  Palace 
of  the  Laterani 4  was  beset  by  an  entire  cohort ;  it  is 
but  seldom  that  soldiers  find  their  way  into  a  garret ! 

-  A  famous  lawyer  banished  by  Nero. 

3  Forced  by  Nero  to  commit  suicide. 

4  Plautius  Lateranus  was  put  to  death  by  Nero  for  joining 
in  Piso'a  conspiracy,  a.d.  63. 

193 


30 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   X 

pauca  licet  portes  argenti  vascula  puri 
nocte  iter  ingressus,  gladium  contumque  timebis 
et  motae  ad  lunam  trepidabis  harundinis  umbram : 
cantabit  vacuus  coram  latrone  viator. 

Prima  fere  vota  et  cunctis  notissima  templis 
divitiae,  crescant  ut  opes,  ut  maxima  toto 
nostra  sit  area  foro.     sed  nulla  aconita  bibuntur      25 
fictilibus  :  tunc  ilia  time,  cum  pocula  sumes 
gemmata  et  lato  Setinum  ardebit  in  auro. 
iamne  igitur  laudas  quod  de  sapientibus  alter 
ridebat,  quotiens  de  limine  moverat  unum 
protuleratque  pedem,  flebat  contrarius  auctor  ? 
sed  facilis  cuivis  rigidi  censura  cachinm : 
mirandum  est  unde  ille  oculis  suflFecerit  umor. 
perpetuo  risu  pulmonem  agitare  solebat 
Democritus,  quamquam  non  essent  urbibus  illis 
praetextae  trabeae  fasces  lectica  tribunal  ; 
quid  si  vidisset  praetorem  curribus  altis 
extantem  et  medii  sublimem  pulvere  circi 
in  tunica  Iovis  et  pictae  Sarrana  ferentem 
ex  umeris  aulaea  togae  magnaeque  coronae 
tantum  orbem,  quanto  cervix  non  sufficit  ulla? 
quippe  tenet  sudans  hanc  publicus  et,  sibi  consul 
ne  placeat,  curru  servus  portatur  eodem. 
da  nunc  et  volucrem,  sceptro  quae  surgit  eburno, 
illinc  comicines,  hinc  praecedentia  longi 
agminis  officia  et  niveos  ad  frena  Quirites, 

i  Democritus  of  Abdera.  2  Heraclitus  of  Ephesus. 

s  The  tunica  palmata,  embroidered  with  palm,   and   the 

194 


35 


40 


45 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   X 

Though  you  carry  but  few  silver  vessels  with  you  in 
a  night  journey,  you  wilj_be  afraid  of  the  sworcLaxid 
cudgelof  a  freebooter"  you  will  tremble  at  the  shadow 
of  a  reed  shaking  in  the  moonlight;  but  the  empty- 
handed  traveller  will  whistle  in  the  robber's  face. 
"  2a  The  foremost  of  all  petitions — the  one  best 
known  to  every  temple — is  for  riches  and  their  in- 
crease, that  our  money-chest  may  be  the  biggest  in 
the  r/orurn.  But  you  will  drink  no  aconite  out  of  an 
earthenware  cup  ;  you  may  dread  it  when  a  jewelled 
cup  is  offered  you,  or  when  Setine  wine  sparkles  in  a 
golden  bowl.  Then  will  you  not  commend  the  two 
wise  men,  one  of  whom 1  would  laugh  while  the  oppo- 
site sage  2  would  weep  every  time  he  set  a  foot  out- 
side the  door  ?  JT.o_eondemn  bv  a  cutting  laugh  comes 
readily  to  us  all ;  the  wonder  is  how  the  other  sage's 
eyes  were  supplied  with  all  that  water.  The  sides  ot 
Democritus  shook  with  unceasing  laughter,  although 
in  the  cities  of  his  day  there  were  no  purple-bordered 
or  purple-striped  robes,  no  fasces,  no  palanquins,  no 
tribunals.  What  if  he  had  seen  the  Praetor  uplifted 
in  his  lofty  car  amid  the  dust  of  the  Circus,  attired  in 
the  tunic3  of  Jove,  hitching  an  embroidered  Tyrian 
toga3  on  to  his  shoulders,  and  carrying  a  crown  so 
big  that  no  neck  could  bear  the  weight  of  it  ?  For 
a  public  slave  is  sweating  under  the  burden ;  and 
that  the  Consul  may  not  fancy  himself  overmuch, 
the  slave  rides  in  the  same  chariot  with  his 
master.  Add  to  all  this  the  bird  that  is  perched 
on  his  ivory  staff;  on  this  side  the  horn-blowers,  on 
that  the  duteous  clients  preceding  him  in  long  array, 
with  white-robed  Roman  citizens,  whose  friendship 

toga  picla,  with  gold,  were  triumphal  garments,  described  by 
Livy  as  Iovis  optimi  maximi  ornatus  (xx.  7). 

195 
o  2 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   X 

defossa  in  loculos  quos  sportula  fecit  amicos. 
tunc  quoque  materiam  risus  invenit  ad  omnis 
occursus  hominum,  cuius  prudentia  monstrat 
summos  posse  viros  et  magna  exempla  daturos 
vervecum  in  patvia  crassoque  sub  aere  nasci.  50 

ridebat  cuvas  nee  non  et  gaudia  vulgi, 
interdum  et  lacrimas,  cum  Fortunae  ipse  minaci 
mandaret  laqueum  mediumque  ostenderet  unguem. 

Ei-p-o  supervacua  aut  quae x  perniciosa  petuntur 
propter  quae  fas  est  genua  incerare  deorum  !            55 
quosdam  praecipitat  subiecta  potentia  magnae 
invidiae,  mergit  longa  atque  insignis  honorum 
pagina.     descendunt  statuae  vestemque  sequuntur, 
ipsas  deinde  rotas  bigarum  inpacta  securis 
caedit  et  inmeritis  franguntur  crura  caballis  ;           60 
iam  strident  ignes,  iam  follibus  atque  caminis 
ardet  adoratum  populo  caput  et  crepat  ingens 
Seianus,  deinde  ex  facie  toto  orbe  secunda 
fiunt  urceoli  pelves  sartago  matellae.2 
pone  domi  laurus,  due  in  Capitolia  magnum              65 
cretatumque  bovem  !    Seianus  ducitur  unco 
spectandus,  gaudent  omnes  :  "  quae  labra,  quis  illi 
vultus  erat !     numquam,  si  quid  milii  credis,  amavi 
hunc   bominem.     sed    quo    cecidit   sub   crimine  ? 
quisnam 
i  quae  is  a  conj.  by  Blich.  (1893),  the  space  being  blank 
in  tbe  MSS.     aut  ne  perniciosa  petantur  Lach.     Housm.  has 
a  mark  of   interrogation  after  petuntur.     As  the  text  stands, 
sunt  must  be  understood  after  quae.     Owen  conj.  prope. 
2  matellae  P  :  patellae  i//.  

~~ i  In  i  95-6  foil,  the  sportula  (properly  a  basket)  is  spoken 
of  as  a  meal  actually  carried  away  by   the  clients.      The 

196 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   X 

has  been  gained  by  the  dinner-dole  snugly  lying  in 
their  purses,1  marching  at  his  bridle-rein.  Even  then 
the  philosopher  found  food  for  laughter  at  every 
meeting  with  his  kind  :  his  wisdom  shows  us  that  men 
■QJLhiffh  distinction  and  destined  to  set  great  examples' 
maybe"born  in  a  dullard.air,  and  in  the  land  of  mutton  - 
heads.2  He  laughed  at  the  troubles,  ay  and  at  the 
pleasures,  of  the  crowd,  sometimes  too  at  their  tears, 
while  for  himself  he  would  bid  frowning  fortune  go 
hang,  and  point  at  her  the  finger  of  derision. 

54  Thus  it  is  that  thejhings  for  which  we  pray, 
and  for  which  it  is  right  and  proper  to  load  the 
knees  of  the  Gods  with  wax,_are  either  profitless  or 
pernicious  !  ^Some  men  are  hurled  headlong  by  over- 
great  power  and  the  envy  to  which  it  exposesthem  : 
they  are  wrecked  by  the  long  and  illustrious  roll  of 
their  honours  :  down  come  their  statues,  obedient  to 
the  rope  ;  the  axe  hews  in  pieces  their  chariot  wheels 
and  the  legs  of  the  unoffending  horses.  And  now 
the  flames  are  hissing,  and  amid  the  roar  of  furnace 
and  of  bellows  the  head  of  the  mighty  Sejanus,3 
the  darling  of  the  mob,  is  burning  and  crackling, 
and  from  that  face,  which  was  but  lately  second 
in  the  entire  world,  are  being  fashioned  pipkins, 
pitchers,  frying-pans  and  slop-pails!  Up  with  the 
laurel-wreaths  over  your  doors  !  Lead  forth  a  grand 
chalked  bull  to  the  Capitol !  Sejanus  is  being  dragged 
along  by  a  hook,  as  a  show  and  joy  to  all !  «  What 
a  lip  the  fellow  had  !  What  a  face  !  " — «  Believe  me, 
I  never  liked  the  man  !  " — "  But  on  what  charge  was 

present  passage  refers  to  the  later  practice  which  substituted 
a  sum  of  100  quadrantes  (4  sesterces)  for  the  meal  in  kind. 

2  Abdera,  in  Thrace,  the  birthplace  of  Democritus,  had 
the  reputation  of  being  a  breeder  of  thick-heads. 

8  The  upstart  favourite  of  Tiberius. 

197 


IVVENALIS    SATVRA    X 

delator  ?  quibus  indicibus,  quo  teste  probavit  ?  "      70 
"  nil  horum  ;  verbosa  et  grandis  epistula  venit 
a  Capreis."    "  bene  habet,  nil  plus  interrogo." 

Sed  quid 

turba  Remi  ?     sequitur  fortunara  ut  semper  et  odit 
damnatos.     idem  populus/si  Nortia  Tusco 
favisset,  si  oppressa  foret  secura  senectus  75 

principis,  hac  ipsa  Seianum  dicererllora 
Augustum.     iam  pridem,  ex  quo  suffragia  nulli 
vendimus,  effudit  curas ;  nam  qui  dabat  olim 
imperium  fasces  legiones  omnia,  nunc  se 
continet  atque  duas  tantum  res  anxius  optat,  80 

panem  et  circenses. 

"  Perituros  audio  multos." 
"nil  dubium,  magna  est  fornacula."     "  pallidulus  mi 
Bruttidius  meus  ad  Martis  fuit  obvius  aram  ; 
quam  timeo,  victus  ne  poenas  exigat  Aiax, 
ut  male  defensus."     "curramus  praecipites  et         85 
dum  iacet  in  ripa,  calcemus  Caesaris  hostem." 
"  sed  videant  servi,  ne  quis  neget  et  pavidum  in  ius 
cervice  obstricta  dominum  trahat." 

Hi  sermones 

tunc  de  Seiano,  secreta  haec  murmura  vulgi. 

visne  salutari  sicut  Seianus,  habere  90 


1  Tiberius  was  living  in  grim  solitude  in  his  rock  fortress 
on  the  island  of  Capreae  when  he  sent  to  the  Senate  the 
famous  letter -the  verbosa  et  grandis  epistola— which 
hurried  Sejanus  to  his  doom  on  the  18th  of  October, 
A  D.  29.  (The  passage  in  Tacitus  which  described  the  whole 
event  is  unfortunately  lost;  but  the  fine  account  of  Dion 
Cassius  is  given  in  my  Annals  of  Tacitus,  vol.  i.  pp.  341-353  — 
G.  G.  R.). 
198 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   X 

he  condemned  ?  Who  informed  against  him  ?  What 
was  the  evidence,  who  the  witnesses,  who  made  good 
the  case?" — "Nothing  of  the  sort;  a  great  and 
wordy  letter  came  from  Capri."  J — "  Good  ;  I  ask  no 
more." 

72  And  what  does  the  mob  of  Remus  say  ?  It 
follows  fortune,  as  it  always  does,  and  rails  against 
the  condemned.  That  same  rabble,  if  Nortia  had 
smiled  upon  the  Etruscan,2  if  the  aged  Emperor  had 
been  struck  down  unawares,  would  in  that  very  hour 
have  conferred  upon  Sejanus  the  title  of  Augustus. 
Now  that  no  one  buys  our  votes,  the  public  has  long 
since  cast  off  its  cares ;  the  people  that  once__be- 
stowed  commands,  consulships,  legions  and  all  else, 
now  meddles  no  more  and  longs  eagerly  for  just  two_ 
things — Bread  and  (jamesj_ 

sf"  1  hear  that  many~are  to  perish." — "  No  doubt 
of  it;  there  is  a  big  furnace  ready." — "My  friend 
Brutidius 3  looked  a  trifle  pale  when  I  met  him  at 
the  Altar  of  Mars.  )  I  tremble  lest  the  defeated 
Ajax  should  take  vengeance  for  having  been  so  ill- 
defended."  4 — "  Let  us  rush  headlong  and  trample 
on  Caesar's  enemy,  while  he  lies  upon  the  bank  !" — 
"Ay,  and  letj)ur_slaves  see  us,  that  none  bear  witness 
against  us,  and  drag  their  trembling  master  into 
court  with  a  halter  round  his  neck." 

68  Such  was  the  talk  at  the  moment  about  Sejanus  ; 
such  were  the  mutterings  of  the  crowd.  And  would 
you  like  to  be  courted  like  Sejanus  ?     To  be  as  rich 

2  Sejanus  was  a  native  of  Volsinii  in  Elruria  ;  Nortia  was 
the  Etruscan  Goddess  ofJFortune. 

8  A  famous  orator. 

4  Apparently  Ajax  here  stands  for  Tiberius,  who,  it  is 
thought,  may  revenge  himself  by  punishing  those  who  have 
not  sufficiently  guarded  his  person. 

199 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   X 

tantundem,  atque  illi  summas  donare  curules, 

ilium  exercitibus  praeponere,  tutor  haberi 

principis  angusta  *  Caprearum  in  rupe  sedentis 

cum  grege  Chaldaeo  ?  vis  certe  pila  cohortes 

egregios  equites  et  castra  domestica;  quidni  95 

haec  cupias  ?  et  qui  nolunt  occidere  quemquam, 

posse  volunt.     sed  quae  praeclara  et  prospera  tanti, 

ut  rebus  laetis  par  sit  mensura  malorum  ? 

huius  qui  trahitur  praetextam  sumere  mavis, 

an  Fidenarum  Gabiorumque  esse  potestas  100 

et  de  mensura  ius  dicere,  vasa  minora 

frangere  pannosus  vacuis  aedilis  Vlubris  ? 

ergo  quid  optandum  foret  ignorasse  fateris 

Seianum  ;  nam  qui  nimios  optabat  honores 

et  nimias  poscebat~5pes~  numerosa  pai-abat  105 

exceTsae  turris  tabulata,  unde  altior  esset 

casus  et  inpulsae  praeceps  inmane  ruinae. 

quid  Crassos,  quid  Pompeios  evertit  et  ilium, 

ad  sua  qui  domitos  deduxit  flagra  Quirites  ? 

summus  nempe  locus  nulla  non  arte  petitus,  110 

magnaque  numinibus  vota  exaudita  malignis. 

ad  generum  Cereris  sine  caede  ac  vulnere  pauci 

descendunt  reges  et  sicca  morte  tyi'anni. 

Eloquium  ac  famam  Demosthenis  aut  Ciceronis 
incipit  optare  et  totis  quinquatribus  optat  115 

quisquis  adhuc  uno  parcam  2  colit  asse  Minervam, 

1  angusta  4-Biich.  (1910)  Housm.:  augusta  PABiich.  (1893). 

2  parcam  P  :  partam  i|/. 

1  The  highest  and  richest  class  of   Equites  were   called 
Equites  Illustres  or  Splendidi. 

200 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   X 

as  he  was  ?  To  bestow  on  one  man  the  ivory  chairs 
of  office,  appoint  another  to  the  command  of  armies, 
and  be  counted  guardian  of  a  Prince  seated  on  the 
narrow  ledge  of  Capri  with  his  herd  of  Chaldaean 
astrologers  ?  You  would  like,  no  doubt,  to  have  Cen- 
turions, Cohorts,  and  Illustrious  x  Knights  at  your  call, 
and  to  possess  a  camp  of  your  own  ?  Why  should  you 
not?  Even  those  who  don't  want  to  kill  anybody 
would  Tike  to  have  the  power  to  do  it.  But  what  gran- 
jJgur,  what  nigh  fortune,  are  worth  the  having  if  the 
joy  is  nverbalancecTby  the  calamities  they  bring  with 
them  ?  Would  you  rather  choose  to  wear  the  bordered 
robe  of  the  man  now  being  dragged  along  the  streets, 
or  to  be  a  magnate  at  Fidenae  or  Gabii,  adjudicating 
upon  weights,  or  smashing  vessels  of  short  measure, 
as  a  thread-bare  Aedile  at  deserted  Ulubrae?*""'  You 
admit,  then,  that  Sejanus  did  no>-know  what  things 
were  to  be  desired ;  for  in  coveting  excessive  honours, 
and  seeking  excessive  wealth,  he  was  but  building 
up  the  many  stories  of  a  lofty  tower  whence  the  fall 
would  be  the  greater,  and  the  crash  of  headlong 
ruin  more  terrific.  What  was  it  that  overthrew  the 
Crassi,  and' the  Pompeii,  and  him  who  brought  the 
conquered  Quirites  under  his  lash  ? 3  What  but  lust 
for  the  highest  place  pursued  by  every  kind  of 
means  ?  What  but  ambitious  prayers  granted  by  un- 
kindly Gods  ?  Few  indeed  are  the  kings  who  go  down 
to  Ceres'  son-in-law  i  save  by  sword  and  slaughter — 
few  the  tyrants  that  perish  by  a  bloodless  death  ! 

114  Every  schoolboy  who  worships  Minerva  with  a 
modest  penny  fee,  attended  by  a  slave  to  guard  his 
little  satchel,  prays  all  through  his  holidays  for  elo- 

2  Fidenae,  Gabii,   Ulubrae,  email  and  deserted  towns  in 
Latium.  B  Caesar.  4  Pluto. 

201 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   X 

quem  sequitur  custos  angustae  vernula  capsae. 

eloquio  sed  uterque  perit  orator,  utruraque 

largus  et  exundans  leto  dedit  ingenii  fons. 

ingenio  raanus  est  et  cervix  caesa,  nee  umquam    120 

sanguine  causidici  maduerunt  rostra  pusilli. 

"  o  fortunatam  natam  me  consule  Romam  "  : l 

Antoni  gladios  potuit  contemnere,  si  sic 

omnia  dixisset.     ridenda  poemata  malo 

quam  te,  conspicuae  divina  Philippica  famae,         125 

volveris  a  prima  quae  proxima.     saevus  et  ilium 

exitus  eripuit,  quem  mirabantur  Athenae 

torrentem  et  pleni  moderantem  frena  theatri. 

dis  ille  adversis  genitus  fatoque  sinistra, 

quem  pater  ardentis  massae  fuligine  lippus  130 

a  carbone  et  forcipibus  gladiosque  paranti 

mcude  et  luteo  Vulcano  ad  rhetora  misit. 

Bellorum  exuviae,  truncis  adfixa  tropaeis 
lorica  et  fracta  de  casside  buccula  pendens 
et  curtum  temone  iugum  victaeque  triremis  135 

aplustre  et  summo  tristis  captivus  in  arcu 
humanis  maiora  bonis  creduntur.     ad  hoc  se 
Romanus  Graiusque  et  barbarus  induperator 
erexit,  causas  discriminis  atque  laboris 
inde  habuit ;  tanto  maior  famae  sitis  est  quam       140 
virtutis.     quis  enim  virtutem  amplectitur  ipsam, 

1  This  line  is  taken  from  the  poem  (De  suo  Consulatu) 
which  Cicero  wrote  to  glorify  the  events  of  his  Consulship 
To  the  many  who  are  not  gifted  with  the  divine  faculty  of 
poesy  it  may  he  a  consolation  to  know  that  a  writer  of  the 
most  splendid  prose  could  be  guilty  of  such  a  rubbishy  line  as 
that  here  quoted. 

202 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   X 

quence,  for  the  fame  of  a  Cicero  or  a  Demosthenes. 
Xgt  it  was  eloquence  that  brought  both  pjalflcs  *f> 
their  death  ;  each  perished  by  the  copious  and  over- 
flowing torrent  of  his  own  genius.  It  was  his  genius 
that  cut  off  the  hand,  and  severed  the  neck,  of 
Cicero ;  never  yet  did  futile  pleader  stain  the  rostra 
with  his  blood ! 

"  0  happy  Fate  for  the  Roman  State 
Was  the  date  of  my  great  Consulate  !" 

Had  Cicero  always  spoken  thus,  he  might  have 
laughed  at  the  swords  of  Antony.  Better  verses 
meet  only  for  contempt  than  thou,  O  famous  and 
divine  Philippic,  that  comest  out  second  on  the  roll ! 
Terrible,  too,  was  the  death  of  him  whom  Athens 
loved  to  hear  sweeping  along  and  holding  in  check 
the  crowded  theatre.  Unfriendly  were  the  Gods, 
and  evil  the  star,  under  whom  was  born  the  man 
whom  his  father,  blear-eyed  with  the  soot  of  glow- 
ing ore,  sent  away  from  the  coal,  the  pincers  and 
the  sword-fashioning  anvil  of  grimy  Vulcan,1  to  study 
the  art  of  the  rhetorician  ! 

133  The  spoils  of  war  and  trophies  fastened  upon 
stumps — a  breast-plate,  a  cheek-strap  hanging  from 
a  broken  helmet,  a  yoke  shorn  of  its  pole,  the  flag- 
staff of  a  captured  galley,  or  a  captive  sorrowing 
on  a  triumphal  arch — such  things  are  deemed  glories 
too  great  for  man ;  these  are  the  prizes  for  which 
every  General  strives,  be  he  Greek,  Roman,  or  bar- 
barian ;  it  is  for  these  that  he  endures  toil  and  peril : 
so  much  greater  is  the  thirst  for  glory  than  for  virtue  ! 
For  who  would  embrace  virtue  herself  if  you  stripped 

1  Demosthenes'  father,  of  the  same  name,  was  a  blacksmith 
— or  at  least  a  manufacturer  of  swords. 

203 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  X 

praemia  si  tollas  ?     patriam  tamen  obruit  olim 
gloria  paucorum  et  laudis  titulique  cupido 
haesuri  saxis  cinerum  custodibus,  ad  quae 
discutienda  valent  sterilis  mala  robora  fici,  145 

quandoquidem  data  sunt  ipsis  quoque  fata  sepulcris. 

Expende  Hannibalem  ;  quot  libras  in  duce  summo 
invenies  ?     hie  est,  quern  non  capit  Africa  Mauro 
percussa  oceano  Niloque  admota  tepenti, 
rursus    ad    Aethiopum   populos    aliosque *    ele- 

phantos !  150 

additur  impeviis  Hispania,  Pyrenaeum 
transilit ;  opposuit  natura  Alpemque  nivemque  : 
diducit  scopulos  et  montem  rumpit  aceto. 
iam  tenet  Italiam,  tamen  ultra  pergere  tendit : 
"  acti," 2  inquit,  "  nihil    est,  nisi    Poeno   milite 

portas  155 

frangimus  et  media  vexillum  pono  Subura." 
o  qualis  faeies  et  quali  digna  tabella, 
cum  Gaetula  ducem  portaret  belua  luscum  ! 
exitus  ergo  quis  est  ?  o  gloria,  vincitur  idem 
nempe    et   in    exilium    praeceps  fugit  atque  ibi 

magnus  160 

mh'andusque  cliens  sedet  ad  praetoria  regis, 
donee  Bithyno  libeat  vigilare  tyranno. 
finem  animae,  quae  res  humanas  miscuit  olim, 
non  gladii,  non  saxa  dabunt  nee  tela,  sed  ille 
Cannarum  vindex  et  tanti  sanguinis  ultor  165 

anulus.     i  demens  et  saevas  curre  per  Alpes, 
ut  pueris  placeas  et  declamatio  fias  ! 

1  aliosque  \p  :  altosque  PA. 

2  acti  ^Housm.  Biich.  (1910) :  actum  PT  Biich.  (1893). 

204 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   X 

her  of  her  rewards  ?  Yet  full  oft  has  a  land  been 
destroyed  by  the  vainglory  of  a  few,  by  the  lust  for 
honour  and  for  a  title  that  shall  cling  to  the  stones 
that  guard  their  ashes — stones  which  may  be  rent 
asunder  by  the  rude  strength  of  the  barren  fig-tree, 
seeing  that  even  sepulchres  have  their  doom  assigned 
to  them ! 

147  Put  Hannibal  into  the  scales  ;  how  many  pounds' 
weight  will  you  find  in  that  greatest  of  commanders? 
This  is  the  man  for  whom  Africa  was  all  too  small — ■ 
a  land  beaten  by  the  Moorish  sea  and  stretching  to 
the  steaming  Nile,  and  then,  again,  to  the  tribes  ot 
Aethiopia  and  a  new  race  of  Elephants  !  Spain  is 
added  to  his  dominions  :  he  overleaps  the  Pyrenees  ; 
Nature  throws  in  his  way  Alps  and  snow :  he  splits 
the  rocks  asunder,  and  breaks  up  the  mountain-side 
with  vinegar !  And  now  Italy  is  in  his  grasp,  but 
still  on  he  presses:  "Nought  is  accomplished,"  he 
cries,  "until  my  Punic  host  breaks  down  the  city 
gates,  and  I  plant  my  standard  in  the  midst  of  the 
Subura  !  "  O  what  a  sight  was  that !  What  a  picture 
it  would  make,  the  one-eyed  General  riding  on  the 
Gaetulian  monster  !  What  then  was  his  end  ?  Alas 
for  glory !  A  conquered  man,  he  flees  headlong  into 
exile,  and  there  he  sits,  a  mighty  and  marvellous 
suppliant,  in  the  King's  antechamber,  until  it  please 
his  Bithynian  Majesty l  to  awake !  No  sword,  no 
stone,  no  javelin  shall  end  the  life  which  once 
wrought  havoc  throughout  the  world  :  that  little  ring2 
shall  avenge  Cannae  and  all  those  seas  of  blood. 
On !  on !  thou  madman,  and  race  over  the  wintry 
Alps,  that  thou  mayest  be  the  delight  of  schoolboys 
and  supply  declaimers  with  a  theme  ! 

1  Prusias  L,  king  of  Bithynia.        2  Containing  poison. 

205 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   X 

Unus  Pellaeo  iuveni  non  sufficit  orbis  ; 
aestuat  infelix  angusto  limite  mundi 
ut  Gyarae  clausus  scopulis  parvaque  Seripho  ;         170 
cum  tamen  a  figulis  munitam  intraverit  urbem, 
sarcophago  contentus  erit.     mors  sola  fatetur 
quantula  sint  hominum  corpuscula.     creditur  olim 
velificatus  Atlios  et  quidquid  Graecia  mendax 
audet  in  historia,  constratum  classibus  isdem         175 
suppositumque  rotis  solidum  mare,  credimus  altos 
defecisse  amnes  epotaque  flumina  Medo 
prandente  et  madidis  cantat  quae  Sostratus  alis  ; 
ille  tamen  qualis  rediit  Salamine  relicta, 
in  Corum  atque  Eurum  solitus  saevire  flagellis       180 
barbarus  Aeolio  numquam  hoc  in  carcere  passos, 
ipsum  conpedibus  qui  vinxerat  Ennosigaeum  : 
mitius  id  sane,  quod  non  et  stigmate  dignum 
credidit;  huic  quisquam  vellet  servire  deorum? 
sed  qualis  rediit?  nempe  una  nave,  cruentis  185 

fluctibus  ac  tarda  per  densa  cadavera  prora. 
has  totiens  optata  exegit  gloria  poenas. 

«  Da  spatium  vitae,  multos  da,  Iuppiter,  annos  "  : 
hoc  recto  vultu,  solum  hoc,  et  pallidus  optas. 
sed  quam  continuis  et  quantis  longa  senectus         190 
plena   malis!     deformem    et  taetrum  ante  omnia 

vultum 
dissimilemque  sui,  deformem  pro  cute  pellem 


i  Alexander  the  Great,  b.  at  Pella  B.C.  356,  &.  at  Babylon 
B.C.  323. 
206 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE    X 

168  One  globe  is  all  too  little  for  the  youth  of 
Pella ; x  he  chafes  uneasily  within  the  narrow  limits 
of  the  world,  as  though  he  were  cooped  up  within 
the  rocks  of  Gyara  or  the  diminutive  Seriphos ;  but 
yet  when  once  he  shall  have  entered  the  city  forti- 
fied by  the  potter's  art,2  a  sarcophagus  will  suffice 
him !  Death  alone  proclaims  how  small  are  our  poor 
Jiuman  bodies !  We  Have  heard  how  ships  once 
sailed  through  Mount  Athos,  and  all  the  lying  tales 
of  Grecian  history ;  how  the  sea  was  paved  by  those 
self-same  ships,  and  gave  solid  support  to  chariot- 
wheels  ;  how  deep  rivers  failed,  and  whole  streams 
were  drunk  dry  when  the  Persian  breakfasted,  with 
all  the  fables  of  which  Sostratus  3  sings  with  reeking 
pinions.  But  in  what  plight  did  that  king  4  flee  from 
Salamis  ?  he  that  had  been  wont  to  inflict  barbaric 
stripes  upon  the  winds  Corus  and  Eurus — never 
treated  thus  in  their  Aeolian  prison-house— he  who 
had  bound  the  Earth-shaker  himself  with  chains, 
deeming  it  clemency,  forsooth,  not  to  think  him 
worthy  of  a  branding  also  :  what  god,  indeed,  would 
be  willing  to  serve  such  a  master  ? — in  what  plight  did 
he  return  ?  Why,  in  a  single  ship  ;  on  blood-stained 
waves,  the  prow  slowly  forcing  her  way  through 
waters  thick  with  corpses  !  Such  was  the  penalty 
exacted  for  that  long-desired  glory ! 

188  Give  me  length  of  days,  give  me  many  years. 
O  Jhpiter!  S"eh  is"  your  One  and""only  prayeruin 
days  of  strength  or  of  sickness  ;  yet-  ^nw  grpg"*,  how 
unceasing,  are  the  miseries  of  old  age  !  Look  first 
at  the  misshapen  and  ungainly  face,  so  unlike  its, 
former  self:  see  the  unsightly  hide  that  serves  for 

2  The  famous  walls  of  Babylon  were  built  of  brick. 
8  An  unknown  poet.  *  Xerxes. 

207 


1VVENALIS   SATVRA  X 

pendentisque  genas  et  talis  aspice  rugas 
quales,  umbriferos  ubi  pandit  Thabraca  saltus, 
in  vetula  scalpit  iam  mater  simia  bucca.  195 

plurima  sunt  iuvenum  discrimina  ;  pulchrior  ille 
hoc  atque  ille1  alio,  multum  hie  robustior  illo  : 
una  senum  facies.     cum  voce  trementia  membra 
et  iam  leve  caput  madidique  infantia  nasi, 
frangendus  misero  gingiva  panis  inermi ;  200 

usque  adeo  gravis  uxori  natisque  sibique, 
ut  captatori  moveat  fastidia  Cosso. 
non  eadem  vini  atque  cibi  torpente  palato 
'  gaudia.     nam  coitus  iam  longa  oblivio,  vel  si 
coneris,  iacet  exiguus  cum  ramice  nervus  205 

et  quamvis  tota  palpetur  nocte,  iacebit. 
anne  aliquid  sperare  potest  haec  inguinis  aegri 
canities  ?  quid  quod  merito  suspecta  libido  est 
quae  venerem  adfectat  sine  viribus  ? 

Aspice  partis 
nunc   damnum    alterius.     nam    quae    cantante 

voluptas, 
sit  licet  eximius,  citharoedo  sive  Seleuco 
et  quibus  aurata  mos  est  fulgere  lacerna  ? 
quid  refert,  magni  sedeat  qua  parte  theatri 
qui  vix  cornicines  exaudiet  atque  tubarum 
concentus  ?  clamore  opus  est,  ut  sentiat  auris         215 
quern  dicat  venisse  puer,  quot  nuntiet  boras. 

Praeterea  minimus  gelido  iam  in  corpore  sanguis 
febre  calet  sola,  circumsilit  agmine  facto 
morborum  omne  genus,  quorum  si  nomina  quaeras, 
promptius    expediam    quot   amaverit    Oppia   moe- 

1        chos,  22° 

quot  Themison  aegros  autumno  Occident  uno, 
quot  Basilus  socios,  quot  circumscripserit  Hirrus 

1  ille  ij/5  om.  by  PO.     Housm.  conj.  ore,. 
208 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   X 

skin  ;  see  the  pendulous  cheeks  and  the  wrinkles  like 
those  which  a  matron  baboon  carves  upon  her  aged 
jaws  in  the  shaded  glades  of  Thabraca.1  The  young 
men  differ  in  various  ways :  this  man  is  handsomer 
than  that,  and  he  than  another ;  one  is  stronger 
than  another:  but  old  men  all  look  nlile  Then- 
voices  are  as  shaky  as  their  limbs,  their  heads  without 
hair,  their  noses  drivelling  as  in  childhood.  Theii 
bread,  poor  wretches,  has  to  be  munched  by  tooth- 
less gums;^so  offensive  do  they  become  to  then- 
wives,  their  children"and  themselves,  that  even  the 
legacy-hunter,  Cossus,  turns  from  them  in  disgust. 
Their  sluggish  palate  takes  joy  in  wine  or  food  no 
longer,  and  all  pleasures  of  the  flesh  have,  bppn  long 
ago  forgotten.  .  .  . 

209  And  now  consider  the  loss  of  another  sense  : 
what  joy  has  the  old  man  in  song,  however  famous 
be  the  singer?  what  joy  in  the  harping  of  Seleucus 
himself,  or  of  those  who  shine  resplendent  in  gold- 
embroidered  robes  ?  What  matters  it  in  what  part 
of  the  great  theatre  he  sits  when  he  can  scarce  hear 
the  horns  and  trumpets  when  they  all  blow  together  ? 
The  slave  who  announces  a  visitor,  or  tells  the  time  ot 
day,  must  needs  shout  in  his  ear  if  he  is  to  be  heard. 
217  Besides  all  this,J;he  little  blood  in  his  now  chilly 
frame  is  never  warm  except  with  fever;  diseases  of 
every  kind  dance  aiumid  him  in  a  bo3y;'i'f  you  ask 
of  me  their  names,  1  could  more  readily  tell  you  the 
number  of  Oppia's  paramours,  how  many  patients 
Themison  killed  in  one  season,  how  many  partners 
1  A  town  in  Numidia. 

209 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  X 

pupillos  ;  quot  longa  viros  exorbeat  uno 
Maura  die,  quot  discipulos  inclinet  Hamillus  ;    / 
percurram  citius  quot  villas  possideat  nunc        •     225 
quo  tondente  gravis  iuveni  mihi  barba  sonabat. 
ille  umero,  hie  lumbis,  hie  coxa  debilis  ;  ambos 
perdidit  ille  oculos  et  luscis  invidet ;  huius 
pallida  labra  cibum  accipiunt  digitis  alienis, 
ipse  ad  conspectum  cenae  diducere  rictum  230 

suetus  hiat  tantum  ceu  pullus  hirundinis,  ad  quern 
ore  volat  pleno  rnater  ieiuna.     sed  omni 
membrorum  damno  maior  dementia,  quae  nee 
nomina  servorum  nee  vultum  agnoscit  amici 
cum  quo  praeterita  cenavit  nocte,  nee  illos  235 

quos  genuit,  quos  eduxit.     nam  codice  saevo 
heredes  vetat  esse  suos,  bona  tota  feruntur 
ad  Phialen  ;  tantum  artificis  valet  halitus  oris 
quod  steterat  multis  in  career e  fornicis  anr-is. 

Ut  vigeant  sensus  animi,  ducenda  tamen  sunt    240 
funera  natorum,  rogus  aspiciendus  amatae 
coniugis  et  fratris  plenaeque  sororibus  urnae. 
haec  data  poena  diu  viventibus,  ut  renovata 
semper  clade  domus  multis  in  luctibus  inque 
perpetuo  maerore  et  nigra  veste  senescant.  245 

rex  Pylius,  magno  si  quicquam  credis  Homero, 
exemplum  vitae  fuit  a  cornice  secundae. 
felix  nimirum,  qui  tot  per  saecula  mortem 
distulit  atque  suos  iam  dextra  conputat  annos, 

i  Referring  to  some  barber  who  had  made   money,  and 
was  obnoxious  to  Juvenal  as  a  rich  parvenu. 
2  Nestor. 

2IO 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   X 

were  defrauded  by  Basilus,  how  many  wards  cor- 
rupted by  HirniSj  how  many  lovers  tall  Maura  wears 
out  in  a  single  season  ;  I  could  sooner  run  over  the 
number  of  villas  now  belonging  to  the  barber  under 
whose  razor  my  stiff  youthful  beard  used  to  grate.1 
One  suffers  in  the  shoulder,  another  in  the  loins, 
a  third  in  the  hip ;  another  has  lost  both  eyes,  and 
envies  those  who  have  one ;  another  takes  food  into 
his  pallid  lips  from  someone  else's  fingers,  while  he 
whose  jaws  used  to  fly  open  at  the  sight  of  his  dinner, 
now  only  gapes  like  the  young  of  a  swallow  whose 
fasting  mother  flies  to  him  with  well-laden  beak. 
BuJLjKQrse  than  any  loss  of  limh  is  Hie  fflj)ir.g  wi^d 
which  forgets  the  names  of  slaves,  and  cannot  re- 
cognise the  face  of  the  old  friend  who  dined  with 
him  last  night,  nor  those  of  the  children  whom  he 
has  begotten  and  brought  up.  For  by  a  cruel  will 
he  cuts  off  his  own  flesh  and  blood  and  leaves  all  his 
estate  to  Phial e — so  potent  was  the  breath  of  that 
alluring  mouth  which  had  plied  its  trade  for  so  many 
years  in  her  narrow  archway. 

240  And  though  the  powers  of  his  mind  be  strong 
as  ever,  yej^jnust  he  carry  forth  his  sons  to  burial ; 
hemust  behold  the  luneral  pyres  of  his  beloved  wife 
and  his  brothers,  and  urns  filled  with  the  ashes  of  his 
sisters.  Such  are  the  penalties  nf  the  ]n-na-  ljy^--  h*. 
*ippr  J"1"™^  nfi-"'  "wlamit.y  befall  liip  bnnsPj  he  IjyeQ 
in  a  world  of  sorrow,  he  grows  old  amid  continual 
lamentation  and  in  the  garb  of  woe.  If  we  can 
believe  mighty  Homer,  the  King  of  Pylos2  was 
an  example  of  long  life  second  only  to  the  crow ; 
happy  forsooth  in  this  that  he  had  put  off  death  for 
so  many  generations,  and  had  so  often  quaffed  the 
new-made  wine,   counting  now  his  years  upon  his 

211 
p  2 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   X 

quique  novum  totiens  mustum  bibit.     oro,  V*™m^ 

per 
attendas  quantum  de  legibus  ipse  queratur 
fatorum  et  nimio  de  stamine,  cum  videt  acris 
Antilochi  barbam  ardentem,  cum  quaerit  ab  omm 
quisquis  adest  socius/  cur  baec  in  tempora  duret 
quod  facinus  Jignum  tarn  longo  admisent  aeyo.     255 
haec  eadem  Peleus,  raptum  cum  luget  Achillem, 
atque  alius  cui  fas  Ithacum  lugere  natantem. 
Tncolumi  Troia  Priamus  venisset  ad  umbras 
Assaraci  magnis  sollemnibus  Hectare  funus 
portante  ac  reliquis  fratrum  cervicibus  inter  2W 

Iliadum  lacrimas,  ut  primes  edere  planctus 
Cassandra  inciperet  scissaque  Polyxena  palla, 
si  foret  extinctus  diverso  tempore,  quo  non 
coeperat  audaces  Paris  aedificare  carinas, 
longa  dies  igitur  quid  contulit  ?  omnia  vidit  ^bo 

eversa  et  flammis  Asiam  ferroque  cadentem. 
tunc  miles  tremulus  posita  tulit  anna  tiara 
et  ruit  ante  aram  summi  Iovis  ut  vetulus  bos, 
qui  domini  cultris  tenue  et  miserabile  collum 
praebet  ab  in  grato  iam  fastiditus  aratro.  ^  /  u 

exitus  ille  utcumque  hominis,  sed  torva  canino 
latravit  rictu  quae  post  hunc  vixerat  uxor. 

Festino  ad  nostros  et  regem  transeo  1  onti 
et  Croesum,  quem  vox  iusti  facunda  Soloms 
respicere  ad  longae  iussit  spatia  ultima  vitae.  2  i  o 

exilium  et  career  Minturnarumque  paludes 
et  mendicatus  victa  Carthagine  pams 

i  socins  P  :  socio  <J<  and  Housm. 


i  i  e  bad  begun  to  count  by  hundreds. 

2  Nestor's  son.        s  ardentem,  i.e.  on  the  pyre. 

i  Laertes,  father  of  Ulysses. 


212 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   X 

right  hand.1  But  mark  for  a  moment,  I  beg,  how 
he  bewails  the  decrees  of  fate  and  his  too-long  thread 
of  life,  when  he  beholds  the  beard  of  his  brave 
Antilochus  2  in  the  flames,3  and  asks  of  every  friend 
around  him  why  he  has  lived  so  long,  what  crime 
he  has  committed  to  deserve  such  length  of  days. 
Thus  did  Peleus  also  mourn  when  he  lost  Achilles ; 
and  so  that  other  father  4  who  had  to  bewail  the  sea- 
roving  Ithacan.  Had  Priam  perished  at  some  other 
time,  before  Paris  began  to  build  his  audacious  ships, 
he  would  have  gone  down  to  the  shade  of  Assaracus 5 
when  Troy  was  still  standing,  and  with  regal  pomp ; 
his  body  would  have  been  borne  on  the  shoulders  of 
Hector  and  his  brothers  amid  the  tears  of  Ilion's 
daughters,  and  the  rending  of  Polyxena's 6  gar- 
ments :  Cassandra  6  would  have  led  the  cries  of  woe. 
What  boon  did  length  of  days  bring  to  him  ?  He 
saw  everything  in  ruins,  and  Asia  perishing  by  fire 
and  the  sword.  Laying  aside  his  tiara,  and  arming 
himself,  he  fell,  a  trembling  soldier,  before  the  altar 
of  Almighty  Jove,  like  an  aged  ox  discarded  by  the 
thankless  plough  who  offers  his  poor  lean  neck  to  his 
master's  knife.  Priam's  death  was  at  least  that  of 
a  human  being ;  but  his  wife  7  lived  on  to  open  her 
mouth  with  the  savage  barking  of  a  dog. 

273  I  hasten  to  our  own  countrymen,  passing  by 
the  king  of  Pontus  8  and  Croesus,9  who  was  bidden 
by  the  wise  and  eloquent  Solon  to  look  to  the  last 
lap  of  a  long  life.  It  was  this  that  brought  Marius 
to  exile  and  to  prison,  it  took  him  to  the  swamps 
of  Minturnae  and  made  him  beg  his  bread  in  the 

5  Son  of  Tros,  from  whom  the  Trojans  took  their  name. 

6  Daughters  of  Priam.         7  Hecuba. 

8  Mithridates,         9  The  wealthy  king  of  Lydia. 

213 


IVVENALIS    SATVRA   X 

hinc  causas  habuere  ;  quid  illo  cive  tulisset 

natura  in  terris,  quid  Roma  beatius  umquam, 

si  circuniducto  captivorum  agmine  et  omni  280 

bellorum  pompa  animam  exhalasset  opimam, 

cum  de  Teutonico  vellet  descendere  curru  ? 

provida  Pompeio  dederat  Campania  febres 

optandas,  sed  multae  urbes  et  publica  vota 

vicevunt :  igitur  Fortuna  ipsius  et  urbis  285 

servatum  victo  caput  abstulit.     hoc  cruciatu 

Lentulus,  hac  poena  caruit  ceciditque  Cethegus 

integer,  et  iacuit  Catilina  cadavere  toto. 

Formam  optat  modico  pueris,  maiore  puellis 
murmure,  cum  Veneris  fanum  videt,  anxia  mater    290 
usque  ad  delicias  votorum.     "  cur  tamen/'  inquit, 
"  corripias  ?  pulchra  gaudet  Latona  Diana." 
sed  vetat  optari  faciem  Lucretia  qualem 
ipsa  habuit,  cuperet  Rutilae  Verginia  gibbum 
accipere  atque  suum  Rutilae  dare,     filius  autem    295 
corporis  egregii  miseros  trepidosque  parentes 
semper  habet ;  rara  est  adeo  concord ia  formae 
atque  pudicitiae.     sanctos  licet  horrida  mores 
tradiderit  domus  ac  veteres  imitata  Sabinos, 
praeterea  castum  ingenium  vultumque  modesto     300 
sanguine  ferventem  tribuat  natura  benigna 
larga  manu  (quid  enim  puero  conferre  potest  plus 
custody  et  cura  natura  potentior  omni  ?), 
non  licet  esse  viro  ;  nam  prodiga  corruptoris 
improbitas  ipsos  audet  temptare  parentes  :  305 


1  i.e.  after  the  battle  of  Campi  Raudii,  near  Vercellae,  in 

BC-  101.  ...     .      .  .  _A 

2  When  Pompey  lay  dangerously  ill  of  a  fever  in  B.C.  5u 
many  of  the  towns  of  Italy  offered  vows  and  sacrifices  for  his 
recovery. 

214 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   X 

Carthage  that  he  had  conquered.  What  could  Nature 
ever  in  all  the  world  have  produced  more  glorious 
than  him,  if  after  parading  his  troops  of  captives 
with  all  the  pomp  of  war  he  had  breathed  forth  his 
soul  in  glory  as  he  was  about  to  step  down  from  his 
Teutonic  car  ?  x  Kindly  Campania  gave  to  Pompey 
a  fever,  which  he  might  have  prayed  for  as  a  boon  2  ; 
but  the  public  prayers  of  all  those  cities  gained  the 
day ;  so  his  own  fortune  and  that  of  Rome  preserved 
him  to  be  vanquished  and  to  lose  his  head.  No  such 
cruel  thing  befell  Lentulus3;  Cethegus 3  escaped 
such  punishment  and  fell  whole  ;  and  Catiline's  corpse 
lay  unviolated. 

289  When  the  loving  mother  passes  the  temple  of 
Venus,  she  prays  in  whispered  breath  for  her  boys — 
more  loudly,  and  entering  into  the  most  trifling 
.particulars,  for  her  daughters — th^f,  *hpy  ™ay  lmvp 
beautyT  "  And  why  should  I  not  ?  "  she  asks  ;  "  did 
not  Latona  rejoice  in  Diana's  beauty  ? "  Yes  :  but 
Lucretia  forbids  us  to  pray  for  a  face  like  her  own ; 
and  Verginia  would  gladly  take  Rutila's  hump  and 
give  her  own  fair  form  to  Rutila.  A  handsome  son 
keeps  his  parents  in  constant  fear  and  misery ;  _so 
rarely  do  modestyand  good  looks  go  together!  For 
though  his  home  be  strict,  and  have  ta~ught  him 
ways  as  pure  as  those  of  the  ancient  Sabines,  and 
though  Nature  besides  with  kindly  hand  have 
lavishly  gifted  him  with  a  pure  mind  and  a  cheek 
mantling  with  modest  blood— and  what  better  thing 
can  Nature,  more  careful,  more  potent  than  any 
guardian,  bestow  upon  a  youth  ? — he  will  not  be 
allowed  to  become  a  man.  The  lavish  wickedness  of 
some  se.durpr  "'r1'11  tpTVipt  the  boy's  nwn  parents  :  such 
3  Accomplices  in  Catiline's  conspiracy. 

215 


IVVENALIS    SATVRA   X 

tanta  in  muneribus  fiducia.     nullus  ephebum 
deformem  saeva  castravit  in  arce  tyrannus, 
nee  praetextatum  rapuit  Nero  loripedem  nee 
strumosum  atque  utero  pariter  gibboque  tumentem. 

I  nunc  et  iuvenis  specie  laetare  tui,  quern  310 

maiora  expectant  discrimina.     fiet  adulter 
publicus  et  poenas  metuet  quascumque  maritis 
iratis  x  debet,  nee  erit  felicior  astro 
Martis,  ut  in  laqueos  numquam  incidat.    exigit  autem 
interdum  ille  dolor  plus  quam  lex  ulla  dolori  315 

concessit:  necat  hie  ferro,  secat  ille  cruentis 
verberibus,  quosdara  moechos  et  mugilis  intrat. 
sed  tuus  Endymion  dilectae  fiet  adulter 
matronae.     mox  cum  dederit  Servilia  nummos, 
fiet  et  illius  quam  non  amat,  exuet  omnem  320 

corporis  ornatum  :  quid  enim  ulla  negaverit  udis 
inguinibus,  sive  est  haec  Oppia  sive  Catulla? 
deterior  totos  habet  illic  femina  mores. 
"  sed  casto  quid  forma  nOcet  ?  "    quid  pi'ofuit  immo 
Hippolyto  grave  propositum,  quid  Bellorophonti?  325 
erubuit  nempe  haec  ceu  fastidita,  repulsa, 
nee  Stheneboea  minus  quam  Cressa,  excanduit,  et  se 
concussere  ambae.     mulier  saevissima  tunc  est, 
cum  stimulos  odio  pudor  admovet.  v 

Elige  quidnam 
suadendum  esse  putes  cui  nubere  Caesaris  uxor     330 
destinat  ?  optimus  hie  et  formosissimus  idem 

1  irati  PT  :  exire  irati  A  :  exigere  irati  ip :  marili  irati 
Biich.Owen  :  lex  irae  conj.  Housm.:  maritis  iratis  Rigalt 
Biich.  (1910). 

1  i.e.  however  noble  the  lady  may  be. 
216 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   X 

trust  can  be  placed  in  money  !  No  misshapen  youth 
was  everiinseved  Ivy  cruel  tyrant  in  his  castle ;  never 
did  Nero  have  a  bandy-legged  or  scrofulous  favourite, 
or  one  that  was  hump-backed  or  pot-bellied  ! 

310  Go  to  now,  you  that  revel  in  your  son's  beauty  ; 
think  of  the  deadly  perils  that  lie  before  him.  He 
will  become  a  promiscuous  gallant,  and  have  to  fear 
all  the  vpnnrpnnr-p  rlnp  fn.  m1tr.»g^  hmbind: ;  no 
luckier  than  Mars,  he  will  not  fail  to  fall  into  the  net. 
And_sonietimes  the  husband's  wrath  evaptg  greater 
U£nalties  than  any  law  allows :  one  lover  is  slain 
by  the  sword,  another  bleeds  under  the  lash ;  some 
undergo  the  punishment  of  the  mullet.  Your  dear 
Endymion  will  become  the  gallant  of  some  matron 
whom  he  loves ;  but  before  long,  when  Servilia  has 
taken  him  into  her  pay,  he  will  serve  one  also  whom 
he  loves  not,  and  will  strip  her  of  all  her  orna- 
ments ;  for  what  can  any  woman,  be  she  an  Oppia  or 
a  Catulla,1  deny  to  the  man  who  serves  her  passion  ? 
It  is  on  her  passion  that,  a  harl  woman's  whole  nature 
centres,  "But  how  does  beauty  hurt  the  chaste?" 
you  ask.  Well,  what  availed  Hippolytus  or  Bellero- 
phon 2  their  firm  resolve  ?  The  Cretan  lady  flared 
up  as  though  repelled  with  scorn  ;  no  less  furious 
was  Stheneboea.  Both  dames  lashed  themselves  into 
fury ;  for  never  is  woman  so  savage  as  when  her 
hatred  is  goaded  on  by  shame.  "-    ~~* 

329  And  now  tell  me  what  counsel  you  think  should 
be  given  to  him s,  whom  Caesar's  wife  is  minded  to 
wed.    Best  and  fairest  of  a  patrician  house,  the  un- 

2  As  Mr.  Duff  puts  it,  "  Hippolytus  and  Bellerophon  are 
flie  Josephs  of  the  pagan  mythology." 

3  C.  Silius,  brought  to  ruin  by  the  passion  entertained  for 
him  by  Messalina,  wife  of  Claudius  (Tac.  Ann.  xi.  12  and 
26  foil.). 

217 


IVVENALIS    SATVRA    X 

gentis  patriciae  rapitur  miser  extinguendus 
Messalinae  oculis  ;  dudum  sedet  ilia  parato 
flammeolo  Tyriusque  palam  genialis  in  hovtis 
sternitur  et  ritu  decies  centena  dabuntur  335 

antiquo,  veniet  cum  signatoribus  auspex. 
haec  tu  secreta  et  paucis  commissa  putabas  ? 
non  nisi  legitime  vult  nubere.     quid  placeat  die : 
ni  parere  velis,  pereundum  erit  ante  lucernas  ; 
si  scelus  admittas,  dabitur  mora  parvula,  dum  res  340 
nota  urbi  et  populo  contingat  principis  aurem. 
dedecus  ille  domus  sciet  ultimus  ;  interea  tu 
obsequere  imperio,  si  tanti  vita  dierum 
paucorum.     quidquid  levius  meliusve  putaris, 
praebenda    est   gladio    pulchra   haec    et    Candida 
cervix.  345 

Nil  ergo  optabunt  homines  ?  si  consilium  vis, 
pei*mittes  ipsis  expendere  numinibus  quid 
conveniat  nobis  rebusque  sit  utile  nostris. 
nam  pro  iucundis  aptissima  quaeque  dabunt  di : 
carior  est  illis  homo  quam  sibi.     nos  animorum     350 
inpulsu  et  caeca  magnaque  cupidine  ducti 
coniugium  petimus  partumque  uxoris  ;  at  illis 
notum  qui  pueri  qualisque  futura  sit  uxor, 
ut  tamen  et  poscas  aliquid  voveasque  sacellis 
exta  et  candiduli  divina  tomacula  porci,  355 

orand  um  est  ut  sit  mens  Sana  in  coi-pore  sano ; 
fortem  posce  animum  mortis  terrore  carentem, 
qui  spatium  vitae  extremum  inter  munera  ponat 
naturae,  qui  ferre  queat  quoscumque  labores, 

2l8 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  X 

happy  youth  is  dragged  to  destruction  by  Messalina's 
eyes.  She  has  long  been  seated ;  her  bridal  veil  is 
ready ;  the  Tyrian  nuptial  couch  is  being  spread 
openly  in  the  gardens ;  a  dowry  of  one  million  ses- 
terces will  be  given  after  the  ancient  fashion,  the 
soothsayer  and  the  witnesses  will  be  there.  And  you 
thought  these  things  were  secret,  did  you,  known 
only  to  a  few?  But  the  lady  will  not  wed  save  with 
all  the  due  forms.  Say  what  is  your  resolve  :  if  you 
say  nay  to  her,  you  will  have  to  perish  before  the 
lighting  of  the  lamps ;  if  you  perpetrate  the  crime, 
you  will  have  a  brief  respite  until  the  affair,  known 
already  to  the  city  and  the  people,  shall  come  to  the 
Prince's  ears ;  he  will  be  the  last  to  know  of  the 
dishonour  of  his  house.  Meanwhile,  if  you  value  a 
few  days  of  life  so  highly,  obey  your  orders  :  what- 
ever you  may  deem  the  easier  and  the  better  way, 
that  fair  white  neck  of  yours  will  have  to  be  offered 
to  the  sword. 

346  Is  there  nothing  then  for  which  men  shall 
pray?  If  you  ask  my  counsel,  you  will  leave  it  to 
the  gods  themselves  to  provide  what  is  good  for  us, 
and  what  will  be  serviceable  for  our  state;  for,  in 
place  of  what  is  pipping-,  they  will  give  »s  what. 
is  best,  Mfin  is  dearer  to  them  than  he  is  to 
hiniself.  Impelled  by  strong  and  blind  desire,  we 
ask  for  wife  and  offspring ;  but  the  gods  know  ot 
what  sort  the  sons,^>f  what  sort  the  wife,  will  be. 
Nevertheless  that  you  may  have  something  to  pray 
for,  and  be  able  to  offer  to  the  shrines  entrails  and 
presaging  sausages  from  a  white  porker^  you  should 
pray  for  a  sonnrl  minrl  in  a  sound  body j  tor  a  stout 
heart  that  has  no  tear  of  dentil,  and  "deems  length  ot 
days  the  least  of  Nature's  gif_ts  ;  that  can  endure  any 

219 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XI 

nesciat  irasci,  cupiat  nihil  et  potiores  360 

Herculis  aerumnas  credat  saevosque  labores 

et  venere  et  cenis  et  pluma  Sardanapalli. 

monstro  quod  ipse  tibi  possis  dare ;  semita  certe 

tranquillae  per  virtutem  patet  unica  vitae. 

nullum  numen  babes,  si  sit  prudentia  :  nos  te,       365 

nos  facimus,  Fortuna,  deam  caeloque  locamus. 


SATVRA  XI 

Atticus  eximie  si  cenat,  lautus  habetur, 
si  Rutilus,  demens.     quid  enim  maiore  cachinno 
excipitur  vulgi  quam  pauper  Apicius  ?  omnis 
convictus,  thermae,  stationes,  omne  theatrum 
de  Rutilo  ;  nam  dum  valida  ac  iuvenalia  membra      5 
sufficiunt  galeae  dumque  ardent 1  sanguine,  fertur 
non  cogente  quidem  sed  nee  prohibente  tribuno, 
scripturus  leges  et  regia  verba  lanistae. 
multos  porro  vides,  quos  saepe  elusus  ad  ipsum 
creditor  introitum  solet  expectare  macelli,  10 

et  quibus  in  solo  vivendi  causa  palato  est. 
egregius  cenat  meliusque  miserrimus  horum 
et  cito  casurus  iam  perlucente  ruina. 
interea  gustus  elementa  per  omnia  quaerunt 

1  ardenti  Pif-  :  aniens  U:  ardent  conj.  Rigalt. 

1  The  last  king  of  the  Assyrian  empire  of  Nineveh.     A 
proverb  for  luxury. 

220 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XI 

kind  of  toil :  that-  k nnws  neifcJUej  auaiJb  ma  dfiSlfej  and 

thinks  that  the  woes  and  hard  labours  of  Hercules 
are  better  than  the  loves  and  the  banquets  and  the 
down  cushions  of  Sardanapalus.1  What  I  commend 
to  you,  you  can  give  to  yourself  j  for  it  is  assuredly 
through  virtue  that  lies  the  one  and  only  rnad  t.n  a 
life  of  peace.  Thou  wouldst  haYe  nn  rHin'n.ifyJ  O 
Fortune,  if  we  had  but  wisdom ;  it  is  Ave  that  make 
a  goddess  of  thee,  and  place  thee,  in  the  skips. 


SATIRE  XI 

Extravagance  and  Simplicity  of  Living 

If  Atticus  dines  sumptuously,  he  is  thought  a  fine 
gentleman ;  if  Rutilus  does  the  same,  people  say  he 
has  lost  his  senses :  for  at  what  does  the  public  laugh 
so  loudly  as  at  an  Apicius2  reduced  to  poverty? 
Every  dinner  table,  all  the  baths,  lounging-places 
and  theatres  have  their  fling  at  Rutilus ;  for  while 
still  young,  active,  and  warm-blooded,  and  fit  to  wear 
a  helmet,  he  plunges  on  till  he  will  have  to  enrol 
himself — not  compelled  indeed,  but  not  forbidden  by 
the  Tribune 3 — under  the  rules  and  royal  mandates 
of  a  trainer  of  gladiators.  You  may  see  many  of  these 
gentry  being  waited  for  by  an  oft-eluded  creditor  at 
the  entrance  to  the  meat-market — men  whose  sole 
reason  for  living  lies  in  their  palate.  The  greater 
their  straits— though  the  house  is  ready  to  fall,  and 
the  daylight  begins  to  show  between  the  cracks — the 
more  luxuriously  and  daintily  do  they  dine.  Mean- 
while they  ransack  all  the  elements  for  new  relishes  ; 

2  A  notorious  and  wealthy  glutton  ;  sec  iv.  23. 

3  i.e.  a  tribunus  plebis,  whose  permission  would  be  neces- 
sary. 

221 


IVVENALIS    SATVRA  XI 

numquam  animo  pretiis  opstantibus  ;  interius  si       15 
adtendas,  magis  ilia  iuvant  quae  pluris  emuntur. 
ergo  liaut  difficile  est  perituram  arcessere  summam 
lancibus  oppositis  vel  matris  imagine  fracta, 
et  quadringentis  nummis  condire  gulosum 
fictile  ;  sic  veniunt  ad  miscellanea  ludi.  20 

refert  ergo  quis  haec  eadem  paret ;  in  Rutilo  nam 
luxuria  est,  in  Ventidio  laudabile  nomen 
sumhV  et  a  censu  famam  trahit. 

Ilium  ego  iure 
despiciam,  qui  scit  quanto  sublimior  Atlans 
omnibus  in  Libya  sit  montibus,  hie  tamen  idem       25 
ignoret  quantum  ferrata  distet  ab  area 
sacculus.     e  caelo  descendit  jvmOl  aeavrov 
figendum  et  memori  tractandum  pectore,  sive 
coniugium  quaeras  vel  sacri  in  parte  senatus 
esse  velis  ;  neque  enim  loricam  poscit  Achillis         30 
Thersites,  in  qua  se  traducebat  Vlixes  ; 
ancipitem  seu  tu  magno  discrimine  causam 
protegere  adfectas,  te  consule,  die  tibi  qui  sis, 
orator  vehemens  an  Curtius  et  Matho  buccae. 
noscenda  est  mensura  sui  spectandaque  rebus  35 

in  summis  minimisque,  etiam  cum  piscis  emetur, 
ne  mullum  cupias,  cum  sit  tibi  gobio  tantum 
in  loculis.     quis  enim  te  deficiente  crumina 
et  crescente  gula  manet  exitus,  aere  paterno 
ac  rebus  mersis  in  ventrem  faenoris  atque  40 

argenti  gravis  et  pecorum  agrorumque  capacem  ? 
talibus  a  dominis  post  cuncta  novissimus  exit 

1  sumit  PS^  :  sumptus  Heinrich  and  Housra. 


1  Referring  to  bia   contest  with   Ajax  for  the  arms   of 
Achilles. 


222 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XI 

no  cost  ever  stands  in  their  way ;  if  you  look  closely 
into  it,  the  greater  the  price,  the  greater  the  pleasure. 
So  when  they  want  to  raise  money  to  go  after  the 
rest,  they  think  nothing  of  pawning  their  plate,  or 
breaking  up  the  image  of  their  mother  ;  and  having 
thus  seasoned  their  gluttonous  delf  at  a  cost  of  four 
hundred  sesterces,  they  come  down  at  last  to  the 
hotch-potch  of  the  gladiatorial  school.  It  matters 
much  therefore  who  provides  the  feast ;  what  is  ex- 
travagant in  Rutilus,  gets  a  fine  name  in  Ventidius, 
and  takes  its  character  from  his  means. 

23  Rightly  do  I  despise  a  man  who  knows  how  much 
higher  Atlas  is  than  all  the  other  mountains  of 
Africa,  and  yet  knows  not  the  difference  between 
a  purse  and  an  iron-bound  money-box.  The  maxim 
"Know  thyself"  comes  down  to  us  from  the  skies; 
it  should  be  imprinted  in  the  heart,  and  stored  in 
the  memory,  whether  you  are  looking  for  a  wife, 
or  wishing  for  a  seat  in  the  sacred  Senate:  even 
Thersites  never  asked  for  that  breastplate  of  Achilles 
in  which  Ulysses  cut  such  a  sorry  figure.1  If  you 
are  preparing  to  conduct  a  great  and  difficult  cause, 
take  counsel  of  yourself  and  tell  yourself  what 
you  are — are  you  a  great  orator,  or  just  a  spouter 
like  Curtius  and  Matho  ?  Let  a  man  take  his  own 
measure  and  have  regard  to  it  in  things  great  or 
small,  even  in  the  buying  of  a  fish,  that  he  set  not 
his  heart  upon  a  mullet,  when  he  has  only  a  gudgeon 
in  his  purse.  For  if  your  purse  is  getting  empty 
while  your  maw  is  expanding,  what  will  be  your 
end  when  you  have  sunk  your  paternal  fortune  and 
all  your  belongings  in  a  belly  which  can  hold 
capital  and  solid  silver  as  well  as  flocks  and  lands  ? 
With  such  owners  the  last  thing  to  go  is  the  ring ; 

223 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XI 

anulus,  et  digito  mendicat  Pollio  nudo. 
non  praematuri  cineres  nee  funus  acerbum 
luxuriae,  sed  morte  magis  metuenda  senectus.  45 

Hi  plerumque  gradus  :  conducta  pecunia  Romae 
et  coram  dominis  consumitur ;  inde  ubi  paulum 
nescio  quid  superest  et  pallet  faenoris  auctor, 
qui  vertere  solum,  Baias  et  ad  ostrea  currunt. 
cedere  namque  fovo  iam  non  est  deterius  quam        50 
Esquilias  a  ferventi  migrare  Subura  ; 
ille  dolor  solus  patriam  fugientibus,  ilia 
maestitia  est,  caruisse  anno  circensibus  uno  : 
sanguinis  in  facie  non  haeret  gutta,  morantur 
pauci  ridiculum  et  fugientem  ex  urbe  pudorem.       55 

Experiere  hodie  numquid  pulcherrima  dictu, 
Persice,  non  praestem  vitae  tibi l  moribus  et  re, 
si  laudem  siliquas  occultus  ganeo,  pultes 
coram  aliis  dictem  puero,  sed  in  aure  placentas. 
nam  cum  sis  conviva  mihi  promissus,  habebis  60 

Euandrum,  venies  Tirynthius  aut  minor  illo 
hospes,  et  ipse  tamen  contingens  sanguine  caelum, 
alter  aquis,  alter  flammis  ad  sidera  missus, 
fercula  nunc  audi  nullis  ornata  macellis. 
de  Tiburtino  veniet  pinguissimus  agro 
haedulus  et  toto  grege  mollior,  inscius  berbae 
necdum  ausus  virgas  humilis  mordere  salicti, 
qui  plus  lactis  habet  quam  sanguinis  ;  et  montani 
i  tibi  is  added  by  Biich.:  P  has  a  blank. 

i  Alluding  to  the  entertainment  of  Hercules  by  Evander 
(Virg.  Am.  viii.  359-365).  *  Aeneas. 

224 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XI 

poor  Pollio,  his  finger  stripped,  has  to  go  a-begging ! 
It  is  not  an  early  death  or  an  untimely  grave  that 
extravagance  has  to  dread :  old  age  is  more  terrible 
to  it  than  death. 

46  The  regular  stages  are  these :  money  is  bor- 
rowed in  Rome  and  squandered  before  the  owner's 
eyes;  when  some  little  of  it  is  still  left,  and  the 
lender's  face  grows  pale,  these  gentlemen  give  leg 
bail,  and  make  off  for  Baiae  and  its  oyster-beds— for 
in  these  days  people  think  no  more  of  absconding 
from  the  Forum  than  of  flitting  from  the  stuffy 
Subura  to  the  Esquiline.  One  pang,  one  sorrow  only, 
afflicts  these  exiles,  that  they  must,  for  one  season, 
miss  the  Circensian  games !  No  drop  of  blood  lin- 
gers in  their  cheek  :  Shame  is  ridiculed  as  she  flees 
from  the  city,  and  few  would  bid  her  stay. 

56  To-day,  friend  Persicus,  you  will  discover 
whether  I  make  good,  in  deed  and  in  my  ways  ot 
life,  the  fair  maxims  which  I  preach,  or  whether, 
while  commending  beans,  I  am  at  heart  a  glutton: 
openly  bidding  my  slave  to  bring  me  porridge,  but 
whispering  "  cheese-cakes  "  in  his  ear.  For  now  that 
you  have  promised  to  be  my  guest,  you  will  find  in 
me  an  Evander 1 ;  you  yourself  will  be  the  Tirynthian, 
or  the  guest  less  great  than  he,2  though  he  too  came 
of  blood  divine — the  one  by  water,  the  other  boi-ne 
by  fire,3  to  the  stars.  And  now  hear  my  feast,  which 
no  meat-market  shall  adorn.  From  my  Tiburtine  farm 
there  will  come  a  plump  kid,  tenderest  of  the  flock, 
innocent  of  grass,  that  has  never  yet  dared  to  nibble 
the  twigs  of  the  dwarf  willow,  and  has  more  of  milk 
in  him  than  blood ;  some  wild  asparagus,  gathered 

3  Both  heroes  were  deified  ;   Hercules  met  his  death  by 
burning,  Aeneas  by  drowning. 

225 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XI 

asparagi,  posito  quos  legit  vilica  fuso  ; 
grandia  praeterea  tortoque  calentia  faeno  <0 

ova  adsunt  ipsis  cum  matribus,  et  servatae 
parte  anni  quales  fuerant  in  vitibus  uvae, 
Signinum  Syriumque  pirum,  de  corbibus  isdem 
aemula  Picenis  et  odoris  mala  recentis 
nee  metuenda  tibi,  siccatum  frigore  postquam         75 
autumnum  et  crudi  posuere  pericula  suci. 
Haec  olim  nostri  iam  luxuriosa  senatus 
cena  fuit ;  Curius  parvo  quae  legerat  horto 
ipse  focis  brevibus  ponebat  holuscula,  quae  nunc 
squalidus  in  magna  fastidit  compede  fossor,  80 

qui  meminit  calidae  sapiat  quid  vulva  popinae. 
sicci  terga  suis  rara  pendentia  crate 
moris  erat  quondam  festis  servare  diebus 
et  natalicium  cognatis  ponere  lardum 
accedente  nova,  si  quam  dabat  hostia,  carne.  85 

cognatorum  aliquis  titulo  ter  consulis  atque 
castrorum  imperiis  et  dictatoris  honore 
functus  ad  has  epulas  solito  maturius  ibat, 
erectum  domito  referens  a  monte  ligonem. 
cum  tremerent  autem  Fabios  durumque  Catonem     90 
et  Scauros  et  Fabricium,  rigidique 1  severos 
censoris  mores  etiam  collega  timeret, 
nemo  inter  curas  et  seria  duxit  habendum, 
qualis  in  Oceani  fluctu  testudo  nataret, 
clarum  Troiugenis  factura  et  nobile  fulcrum  ;  95 

sed  nudo  latere  et  parvis  frons  aerea  lectis 

i  rigidique  <J>,Housm.:  postremo  P  Bach. 

"i  Mafiftis  Curius  Dentatus,  the  conqueror  of  Pyrrhus,  type 
of  the  simple  noble  Roman  of  early  times. 

226 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XI 

by  the  bailiff's  wife  when  done  with  her  spindle,  and 
some  lordly  eggs,  warm  in  their  wisps  of  hay,  to- 
gether with  the  hens  that  laid  them.  There  will  be 
grapes  too,  kept  half  the  year,  as  fresh  as  when  they 
hung  upon  the  tree;  pears  from  Signia  and  Syria, 
and  in  the  same  baskets  fresh-smelling  apples  that 
rival  those  of  Picenum,  and  of  which  you  need  not 
be  afraid,  seeing  that  winter's  cold  has  dried  up 
their  autumnal  juice,  and  removed  the  perils  of 
unripeness. 

77  Such  were  the  banquets  of  our  Senate  in  days 
of  old,  when  already  grown  luxurious;  when  Curius,1 
with  his  own  hands,  would  lay  upon  his  modest  hearth 
the  simple  herbs  he  had  gathered  in  his  little  garden 
— herbs  scoffed  at   nowadays    by  the  dirty  ditcher 
who  works  in  chains,  and  remembers  the  savour  of 
tripe   in  the  reeking  cookshop.     For  feast  days,  in 
olden   times,   they   would    keep    a    side    of    dried 
pork,  hanging  from  an  open  rack,  or  put  before  the 
relations  a  flitch  of  birthday  bacon,  with  the  addition 
of  some  fresh  meat,  if  there  happened  to  be  a  sacri- 
fice to  supply  it.     A  kinsman  who  had  thrice  been 
hailed  as  Consul,  who  had  commanded  armies,  and 
filled  the  office  of  Dictator,  would  come  home  earlier 
than  was  his  wont  for  such  a  feast,  shouldering  the 
spade  with  which  he  had  been  subduing  the  hill- 
side.     For  when  men  quailed  before  a  Fabius  or  a 
stern  Cato,  before  a  Scaurus  or  a  Fabricius — when 
even  a  Censor  might  dread  the  severe  verdict  of  his 
colleague2— no  one  deemed  it  a  matter  of  grave  and 
serious  concern  what  kind  of  tortoise-shell  was  swim- 
ming in  the  waves  of  Ocean  to  form  a  head-rest  for 
our  Troy-born  grandees.    Couches  in  those  days  were 

2  For  the  quarrel  between  the  censors,  see  Livy,  xxix.  37. 

227 
C   2 


100 


105 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  XI 

vile  coronati  caput  ostendebat  aselli, 
ad  quod  lascivi  ludebant  ruris  alumni  : 
tales  ergo  cibi,  qualis  domus  atque  supellex. 
Tunc  rudis  et  Graias  mirari  nescius  artes 
urbibus  eversis  praedarum  in  parte  reperta 
magnorum  artificum  frangebat  pocula  miles, 
ut  phaleris  gauderet  equus  caelataque  cassis 
Romuleae  simulacra  ferae  mansuescere  iussae 
imperii  fato,  geminos  sub  rupe  Quirinos, 
ac  nudam  effigiem1  clipeo  venientis  et  hasta 
pendentisque  dei  perituro  ostenderet  hosti. 
ponebant  igitur  Tusco  farrata  catino  : 
argenti  quod  erat,  solis  fulgebat  in  armis. 
omnia  tunc,  quibus  invideas  si  lividulus  sis.  110 

templorum  quoque  maiestas  praesentior,  et  vox 
nocte  fere  media  mediamque  audita  per  urbem 
litore  ab  Oceani  Gallis  venientibus  et  dis 
officium  vatis  peragentibus.     his  monuit  nos, 
banc  rebus  Latiis  curam  praestare  solebat  115 

fictilis  et  nullo  violatus  Iuppiter  auro. 

Ilia  domi  natas  nostraque  ex  arbore  mensas 
tempora  viderunt ;  bos  lignum  stabat  ad  usus, 
annosam  si  forte  nucem  deiecerat  Eurus. 
at  nunc  divitibus  cenandi  nulla  voluptas,  120 

nil  rhombus,  nil  damma  sapit,  putere  videntur 
unguenta  atque  rosae,  latos  nisi  sustinet  orbes 
grande  ebur  et  magno  sublimis  pardus  hiatu 
1  Housm.  inserts  in  before  clipeo. 

i  i.e.  the  god  Mars. 
228 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XI 

small,  their  sides  unadorned :  a  simple  headpiece  of 
bronze  would  display  the  head  of  a  be-garlanded  ass, 
beside  which  would  romp  in  play  the  children  of  the 
village.  Thus  house  and  furniture  were  all  in  keeping 
with  the  fare. 

100  The  rude  soldier  of  those  days  had  no  taste  for, 
or  knowledge  of,  Greek  art;  if  allotted  cups  made 
by  great  artists  as  his  share  in  the  booty  of  a  cap- 
tured city,  he  would  break  them  up  to  provide  gay 
trappings  for  his  horse,  or  to  chase  a  helmet  that 
should  display  to  the  dying  foe  an  image  of  the 
Romulean  beast  bidden  by  Rome's  destiny  to  grow 
tame,  with  the  twin  Quirini  beneath  a  i*ock,  and  the 
nude  effigy  of  the  God  *  swooping  down  with  spear 
and  shield.  Their  messes  of  spelt  were  then  served 
on  platters  of  earthenware ;  such  silver  as  there  was 
glittered  only  on  their  arms — all  which  things  you 
may  envy  if  you  are  at  all  inclined  that  way.  The 
majesty  of  the  temples  also  was  more  near  to  help 
us ;  it  was  then  that  was  heard  through  the  entire 
city  that  midnight  voice  telling  how  the  Gauls  were 
advancing  from  the  shores  of  Ocean,  the  Gods  taking 
on  them  the  part  of  prophecy.  Such  were  the  warn- 
ings of  Jupiter,  such  the  care  which  he  bestowed  on 
the  concerns  of  Latium  when  he  was  made  of  clay, 
and  undefiled  by  gold. 

117  In  those  days  our  tables  were  home-grown, 
made  of  our  own  trees  ;  for  such  use  was  kept  some 
aged  chestnut  blown  down  perchance  by  the  South- 
western blast.  But  nowadays  a  rich  man  takes  no 
pleasure  in  his  dinner — his  turbot  and  his  venison 
have  no  taste,  his  unguents  and  his  roses  no  per- 
fume— unless  the  broad  slabs  of  his  dinner-table  rest 
upon  a  ramping,  gaping  leopard  of  solid  ivory,  made 

22Q 


IVVENALIS  SATVRA  XI 

dentibus  ex  Mis  quos  mittit  porta  Syenes 

et  Mauri  celeres  et  Mauro  obscurior  Indus,  1^5 

et  quos  deposuit  Nabataeo  belua  saltu 

iam  nimios  capitique  graves,     hinc  surgit  orexis, 

hinc  stomacho  vires ;  nam  pes  argenteus  ilhs, 

anulus  in  digito  quod  ferreus.     ergo  superbum 

convivam  caveo,  qui  me  sibi  comparat  et  res  1<50 

despicit  exiguas.     adeo  nulla  uncia  nobis 

est  eboris,  nee  tessellae  nee  calculus  ex  hac 

materia,  quin  ipsa  manubria  cultellorum 

ossea.     non  tamen  his  ulla  umquam  obsonia  fiunt 

rancidula  aut  ideo  peior  gallina  secatur.  135 

sed  nee  structor  erit  cui  cedere  debeat  omnis 

pergula,  discipulus  Trypheri  doctoris,  aput  quern 

sumine  cum  magno  lepus  atque  aper  et  pygargus 

et  Scythicae  volucres  et  phoenicopterus  ingens 

et  Gaetulus  oryx  bebeti  lautissima  ferro  140 

caeditur  et  tota  sonat  ulmea  cena  Subura. 

nee  frustum  capreae  subducere  nee  latus  Afrae 

novit  avis  noster,  tirunculus  ac  rudis  omni 

tempore  et  exiguae  furtis  inbutus  ofellae. 

plebeios  calices  et  paucis  assibus  emptos  145 

porriget  incultus  puer  atque  a  frigore  tutus. 

non  Phryx  aut  Lyeius,  non  a  mangone  petitus 

quisquam  erit  et  magno  1 :  cum  posces,  posce  latme. 

idem  habitus  cunctis,  tonsi  rectique  capilli 

atque  hodie  tan  turn  propter  convivia  pexi.  150 

pastoris  duri  hie  est  films,  ille  bubulci ; 

i  qvisquam  erit  et  magno  ALOT  :  quisquam  erit  in  magno 
PSFGU  :  qui  steterit  magno  conj.  Housm.:  in  magno  si  posces 
Biich.  (1893)  Owen ;  id  magnum  Bitch.  (1910).        

»  Now   Assouan,    on   the   Roman    frontier.      The   phrase 
"  portal  of  Syene"  means  "the  portal  consisting  of  byene, 
Syene  itself  constituting  the  portal. 

230 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XI 

of  the  tusks  sent  to  us  by  the  swift-footed  Moor  from 
the  portal  of  Syene,1  or  by  the  still  duskier  Indian 
— or  perhaps  shed  by  the  monstrous  beast  in  the 
Nabataean 2  forest  when  too  big  and  too  heavy  for 
his  head.  These  are  the  things  that  give  good  ap- 
petite and  good  digestion ;  for  to  these  gentlemen 
a  table  with  a  leg  of  silver  is  like  a  finger  with  an 
iron  ring.  For  this  reason  I  will  have  none  of  your 
haughty  guests  to  make  comparisons  between  him- 
self and  me,  and  look  down  upon  my  humble  state. 
So  destitute  am  I  of  ivory  that  neither  my  dice  nor 
counters  are  made  of  it ;  even  my  knife-handles  are 
of  bone.  Yet  are  not  the  viands  tainted  thereby, 
nor  does  the  pullet  cut  up  any  the  worse  on  that 
account.  Nor  shall  I  have  a  carver  to  whom  the 
whole  carving-school  must  bow,  a  pupil  of  the 
learned  Trypherus,  in  whose  school  is  cut  up,  with 
blunt  knives,  a  magnificent  feast  of  hares  and  sow's 
paunches,  of  boars  and  antelopes,  of  Scythian  fowls 
and  tall  flamingoes  and  Gaetulian  gazelles,  until  the 
whole  Subura  rings  with  the  clatter  of  the  elm-wood 
banquet.  My  raw  youngster,  untutored  all  his  days, 
has  never  learnt  how  to  filch  a  slice  of  kid  or  the 
wing  of  a  guinea-fowl,  unpractised  save  in  the  theft 
of  scraps.  Cups  of  common  ware,  bought  for  a  few 
pence,  will  be  handed  round  by  an  unpolished  lad, 
clad  so  as  to  keep  out  the  cold.  No  Phrygian  or 
Lycian  youth,  none  bought  from  a  dealer  at  a  huge 
price,  will  you  find  ;  when  you  want  anything,  ask  for 
it  in  Latin.  They  are  all  dressed  alike  ;  their  hair  cut 
close  and  uncui'led,  and  only  combed  to-day  because 
of  the  company.    One  is  the  son  of  a  hardy  shepherd  ; 

2  The  Nabataei  were  an  Arabian  tribe.     Bat  there  are  no 
elephants  in  Arabia. 

231 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XI 

suspirat  longo  non  visam  tempore  matrem, 
et  casulum  et  notos  tristis  desiderat  haedos, 
ingenui  vultus  puer  ingenuique  pudoris, 
quales  esse  decet  quos  ardens  purpura  vestit,         155 
nee  pupillares  defert  in  balnea  raucus 
testiculos,  nee  vellendas  iam  praebuit  alas, 
crassa  nee  opposito  pavidus  tegit  inguina  guto. 
hie  tibi  vina  dabit  diffusa  in  montibus  illis 
a  quibus  ipse  venit,  quorum  sub  vertice  lusit ;        160 
[namque  una  atque  eadem  est  vini  patria  atque 
ministri.] 
Forsitan  expectes  ut  Gaditana  canoro 
incipiant  prurire  choro  plausuque  probatae 
ad  terrain  tremulo  descendant  clune  puellae  ; 
spectant  hoc  nuptae  iuxta  recubante  marito,  165 

quod  pudeat  narrare  aliquem  praesentibus  ipsis, 
inritamentum  veneris  languentis  et  acres 
divitis  urticae  ;  maior  tamen  ista  voluptas 
alterius  sexus  :  magis  ille  extenditur,  et  mox 
auribus  atque  oculis  concepta  urina  movetur.  170 

non  capit  has  nugas  humilis  domus.     audiat  ille 
testarum  crepitus  cum  verbis,  nudum  olido  stans 
fornice  mancipium  quibus  abstinet,  ille  fruatur 
vocibus  obscaenis  omnique  libidinis  arte, 
qui  Lacedaemonium  pytismate  lubricat  orbem  ;     175 
namque  ibi  fortunae  veniam  damus.     alea  turpis, 
turpe  et  adulterium  mediocribus  :  haec  eadem  illi 
omnia  cum  faciunt,  hilares  nitidique  vocantur. 
nostra  dabunt  alios  hodie  convivia  ludos, 
conditor  Iliados  cantabitur  atque  Maronis  180 

altisoni  dubiam  facientia  carmina  palmam. 
quid  refert.  tales  versus  qua  voce  legantur  ? 


232 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XI 

another  of  the  cattle-man :  he  sighs  for  the  mother 
whom  he  has  not  seen  for  so  long,  and  thinks  wist- 
fully of  the  little  cottage  and  the  kids  he  knew  so 
well ;  a  lad  of  open  countenance  and  simple  modesty, 
such  as  those  ought  to  be  who  are  clothed  in  glowing 
purple.1  No  noisy  frequenter  lie  of  baths,  presenting 
his  armpits  to  be  cleared  of  hair,  and  with  only  an  oil- 
flask  to  conceal  his  nudity.  He  will  hand  you  a  wine 
that  was  bottled  on  the  hills  among  which  he  was 
born,  and  beneath  whose  tops  he  played — for  wine 
and  servant  alike  have  one  and  the  same  father- 
land. 

162  You  may  look  perhaps  for  a  troop  of  Spanish 
maidens  to  win  applause  by  immodest  dance  and 
song,  sinking  down  with  quivering  thighs  to  the 
floor — such  sights  as  brides  behold  seated  beside 
their  husbands,  though  it  were  a  shame  to  speak  of 
such  things  in  their  presence.  .  .  .  My  humble  home 
has  no  place  for  follies  such  as  these.  The  clatter 
of  castanets,  words  too  foul  for  the  strumpet  that 
stands  naked  in  a  reeking  archway,  with  all  the  arts 
and  language  of  lust,  may  be  left  to  him  who  spits 
wine  upon  floors  of  Lacedaemonian  marble  ;  such 
men  we  pardon  because  of  their  high  station.  In 
men  of  moderate  position  gaming  and  adultery  are 
shameful ;  but  when  those  others  do  these  same 
things,  they  are  called  gay  fellows  and  fine  gentle- 
men. My  feast  to-day  will  provide  other  perform- 
ances than  these.  The  bard  of  the  Iliad  will  be 
sung,  and  the  lays  of  the  lofty-toned  Maro  that 
contest  the  palm  with  his.  What  matters  it  with 
what  voice  strains  like  these  are  read  ? 

1  Referring  to  the  purple  stripe  on  the  toga  praetexta  worn 
by  all  free-born  boys. 

233 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XI 

Sed  nunc  dilatis  averte  negotia  curis 
et  gratam  requiem  dona  tibi,  quando  licebit 
per  totum  cessare  diem,     non  faenoris  ulla  185 

mentio  nee,  prima  si  luce  egressa  reverti 
nocte  solet,  tacito  bilem  tibi  contrahat  uxor 
umida  suspectis  referens  multicia  rugis 
vexatasque  comas  et  vultum  auremque  calentem. 
protinus  ante  meum  quidquid  dolet  exue  limen,    190 
pone  domum  et  servos  et  quidquid  frangitur  illis 
aut  perit,  ingratos  ante  omnia  pone  sodales. 
Interea  Megalesiacae  spectacula  mappae 
Idaeum  sollemne  colunt,  similisque  triumpho 
praeda  caballorum  praetor  sedet,  ac  mihi  pace       195 
inmensae  nimiaeque  licet  si  dicere  plebis, 
totam  liodie  Romam  circus  capit,  et  fragor  aurem 
percutit,  eventum  viridis  quo  colligo  panni. 
nam  si  deficeret,  maestam  attonitamque  videres 
banc  urbem  veluti  Cannarum  in  pulvere  victis       200 
consulibus.     spectent  iuvenes.,  quos  clamor  et  audax 
sponsio,  quos  cultae  decet  assedisse  puellae  : 
nostra  bibat  vernum  contracta  cuticula  solem 
effugiatque  togam.     iam  nunc  in  balnea  salva 
fronte  licet  vadas,  quamquam  solida    bora  super- 

sit  205 

ad  sextam.     facere  boc  non  possis  quinque  diebus 
continues,  quia  sunt  talis  quoque  taedia  vitae 
magna  :  voluptates  commendat  rarior  usus. 

~i~The  Megalesian  games  (April  4-10)  were  held  in  honour 
of  Cybele  (^yd\v  /utjttjp)  ;  the  praetor  gave  the  signal  for 
starting  the  chariot-race  by  dropping  a  napkin. 

2  There  were  four  factions  in  the  Circus,  consisting  of  the 
supporters  of   the  four  charioteering  colours,  White,  Red, 

234 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XI 

183  And  now  put  away  cares  and  cast  business 
to  the  winds  !  Present  yourself  with  a  welcome 
holiday,  now  that  you  may  be  idle  for  the  entire 
day.  Let  there  be  no  talk  of  money,  and  let  there 
be  no  secret  wrath  or  suspicion  in  your  heart  because 
your  wife  is  wont  to  go  forth  at  dawn  and  to  come 
home  at  night  with  crumpled  hair  and  flushed  face 
and  eai's.  Cast  off  straightway  before  my  threshold 
all  that  troubles  you,  all  thought  of  house  and  slaves, 
with  all  that  slaves  break  or  lose,  and  above  all  put 
away  all  thought  of  thankless  friends. 

193  Meantime  the  solemn  Idaean  rite  of  the 
Megalesian  napkin x  is  being  held  ;  there  sits  the 
Praetor  in  his  triumphal  state,  the  prey  of  horse- 
flesh ;  and  (if  I  may  say  so  without  offence  to  the 
vast  unnumbered  mob)  all  Rome  to-day  is  in  the 
Circus.  A  roar  strikes  upon  my  ear  which  tells  me 
that  the  Green 2  has  won ;  for  had  it  lost,  Rome 
would  be  as  sad  and  dismayed  as  when  the 
Consuls  were  vanquished  in  the  dust  of  Cannae. 
Such  sights  are  for  the  young,  whom  it  befits  to 
shout  and  make  bold  wagers  with  a  smart  damsel 
by  their  side  :  but  let  my  shrivelled  skin  drink  in 
the  vernal  sun,  and  escape  the  toga.  You  may  go 
at  once  to  your  bath  with  no  shame  on  your 
brow,  though  it  wants  a  whole  hour  of  mid-day.3 
That  you  could  not  do  for  five  days  continuously, 
since  even  such  a  life  has  weariness.  It  is  rarity 
that  gives  zest  to  pleasure.4 

Green,  and  Blue.    The  Green  it  seems  was  the  popular  colour, 
being  usually  favoured  by  the  emperor. 

3  The  bath  was  usually  not  taken  till  the  eighth  hour. 

4  This  would  seem  to  be  almost  a  translation  from 
Epictetus  (Flor.  6.  59).  "The  rarest  pleasures  give  most 
delight." 

235 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  XII 


SATVRA  XII 

Natali,  Corvine,  die  mihi  dulcior  haec  lux^, 
qua  festus  promissa  deis  animalia  caespes 
expectat.     niveam  reginae  ducimus  agnam, 
par  vellus  dabitur  pugnanti  Gorgone  Maura ; 
sed  procul  extensum  petulans  quatit  hostia  funem    5 
Tarpeio  servata  Iovi  frontemque  coruscat, 
quippe  ferox  vitulus  tempi  is  maturus  et  arae 
spargendusque  mero,  quem  iam  pudet  ubera  matris 
ducere,  qui  vexat  nascenti  robora  cornu. 
si  res  ampla  domi  similisque  adfectibus  esset,  10 

pinguior  Hispulla  traheretur  taurus  et  ipsa 
mole  piger  nee  finitima  nutritus  in  herba, 
laeta  sed  ostendens  Clitumni  pascua  sanguis 
iret  et  a  grandi  cervix  ferienda  ministro 
ob  reditum  trepidantis  adhuc  horrendaque  passi      15 
nuper  et  incolumem  sese  mirantis  amici. 

Nam  praeter  pelagi  casus  et  fulminis  ictus 
evasit :  densae  caelum  abscondere  tenebrae 
nube  una  subitusque  antemnas  inpulit  ignis, 
cum  se  quisque  illo  percussum  crederet  et  mox        20 
attonitus  nullum  conferri  posse  putaret 
naufragium  velis  ardentibus.     omnia  fiunt 
talia,  tarn  graviter,  si  quando  poetica  surgit 
tempestas.     genus  ecce  aliud  discriminis  audi 


1  Pallas. 

2  The  Gorgon  (or  Gorgons)  were  supposed  to  belong   to 

Libya. 
236 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XII 

SATIRE  XII 
How  Catullus  escaped  Shipwreck 

Dearer  to  me,  Corvinus,  is  this  day,  when  mv 
festal  turf  is  awaiting  the  victims  vowed  to  the  Gods, 
than  my  own  birthday.  To  the  Queen  of  Heaven  I 
offer  a  snow-white  lamb ;  a  fleece  as  white  to  the 
Goddess1  armed  Avith  the  Moorish2  Gorgon;  hard  by 
is  the  frolicsome  victim  destined  for  Tarpeian  Jove, 
shaking  the  tight-stretched  rope  and  brandishing  his 
brow ;  for  he  is  a  bold  young  steer,  ripe  for  temple 
and  for  altar,  and  fit  to  be  sprinkled  with  wine ;  it 
already  shames  him  to  suck  his  mother's  milk,  and 
with  his  budding  horn  he  assails  the  oaks.  Were  my 
fortune  large,  and  as  ample  as  my  love,  I  should  have 
been  hauling  along  a  bull  fatter  than  Hispulla,  slow- 
footed  from  his  very  bulk ;  reared  on  no  neighbour- 
ing herbage  he,  but  showing  in  his  blood  the  rich 
pastures  of  the  Clitumnus,3  and  marching  along  to 
to  offer  his  neck  to  the  stroke  of  the  stalwart  priest, 
to  celebrate  the  return  of  my  still  trembling  friend 
who  has  lately  gone  through  such  terrors,  and  now 
marvels  to  find  himself  safe  and  sound. 

17  For  besides  the  perils  of  the  deep  he  escaped 
a  lightning  stroke.  A  mass  of  dense  black  cloud 
shut  out  the  heavens,  and  down  came  a  flash  of  fire 
upon  the  yards.  Every  man  believed  himself 
smitten  by  the  bolt,  and  soon  in  his  terror  be- 
thought him  that  no  shipwreck  could  be  so  terrible 
as  a  ship  on  fire.  All  happened  in  the  same  way  and 
as  frightfully  as  when  a  storm  arises  in  a  poem, 
when  lo  !  a  new  kind  of  peril  came  :  hear  it  and  give 

8  Famed  for  their  breed  of  white  cattle. 

237 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  XII 

et  miserere  iterum,  quamquam  sint  cetera  sortis      25 
eiusdem  pars  dira  quidem,,  sed  cognita  multis 
et  quam  votiva  testantur  fana  tabella 
plurima  ;  pictores  quis  nescit  ab  Iside  pasci  ? 

Accidit  et  nostro  similis  fortuna  Catullo. 
cum  plenus  fluctu  medius  foret  alveus  et  iam,  30 

alternum  puppis  latus  evertentibus  undis, 
arbori1  incertae,  nullam  prudentia  cani 
rectoris  cum  ferret  opem,  decidere  iactu 
coepit  cum  ventis,  imitatus  castora,,  qui  se 
eunuchum  ipse  facit  cupiens  evadere  damno  35 

testiculi ;  adeo  medicatum  intellegit  inguen. 
"  fundite  quae  mea  sunt/'  dicebat  "  cuncta  "  Catullus, 
praecipitare  volens  etiam  pulcherrima,  vestem 
purpuream  teneris  quoque  Maecenatibus  aptam, 
atque  alias  quarum  generosi  graminis  ipsum  40 

infecit  natura  pecus,  sed  et  egregius  fons 
viribus  occultis  et  Baeticus  adiuvat  aer. 
ille  nee  argentum  dubitabat  mittere,  lances 
Parthenio  factas,  urnae  cratera  capacem 
et  dignum  sitiente  Pholo  vel  coniuge  Fusci ;  45 

adde  et  bascaudas  et  mille  escaria,  multum 
caelati,  biberat  quo  callidus  2  emptor  Olynthi. 
sed  quis  nunc  alius  qua  mundi  parte,  quis  audet 
argento  praeferre  caput  rebusque  salutem  ? 
[non  propter  vitam  faciunt  patrimonia  quidam,         50 
sed  vitio  caeci  propter  patrimonia  vivunt.] 

1  arbori  is  Lachmann's  conj.  for  the  arboris  of  the  MSS. 
3  callidus  if  :  pallidas  PA. 

1  i.e.  by  employing  them  to  paint  votive  tablets  for  her 

e'"Bae'tica  was  one  of  the  provinces  of  Spain,  called  after 
the  Baetis  (Guadal quiver).  The  wool  was  famed  for  ita 
golden  colour. 

238 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XII 

your  pity  once  again,  though  the  rest  of  the  tale  is  all 
of  one  piece  :  a  fearful  lot,  well  known  to  many,  and 
testified  by  many  a  votive  tablet  in  our  temples.  Who 
knows  not  that  it  is  Isis  who  feeds  our  painters  ? 1 

29  A  fate  like  to  these  befell  our  friend  Catullus 
also.  For  when  the  hold  was  half  full  of  water,  and 
the  waves  rocked  the  hull  from  side  to  side,  so  that 
the  white-haired  skipper,  with  all  his  skill,  could 
bring  no  succour  to  the  labouring  mast,  he  resolved 
to  compound  with  the  winds  like  the  beaver,  who 
gives  up  one  part  of  his  body  that  he  may  keep 
the  rest ;  so  conscious  is  he  of  the  drug  which  he 
carries  in  his  groin.  "  Overboard  with  everything  !  " 
shouted  Catullus,  ready  to  cast  headlong  his  finest 
wares  :  purple  garments,  such  as  would  have  befitted 
a  soft  Maecenas,  with  other  fabrics  dyed  on  the 
sheep's  back  by  the  noble  nature  of  the  herbage 
— though  doubtless  the  hidden  virtues  of  the  water 
and  air  of  Baetica  2  also  lent  their  aid.  Nor  did  he 
hesitate  to  throw  over  pieces  of  silver  plate- 
chargers  wrought  by  Parthenius,3  and  bowls  holding 
three  gallons,  fit  to  slake  the  thirst  of  the  Centaur 
Pholus4  or  the  wife  of  Fuscus.  Besides  these  were 
baskets  and  dishes  without  number,  and  much  chased 
work  out  of  which  the  crafty  purchaser  of  Olynthus  5 
had  slaked  his  thirst.  What  other  man  is  there,  in 
what  part  of  the  world,  who  would  dare  to  value  his 
life  above  his  plate,  or  his  safety  above  his  property  ? 
Some  men  are  so  blinded  and  depraved  that,  instead 
of  making  fortunes  for  the  sake  of  living,  they  live 
for  their  fortunes'  sake. 

3  An  engraver,  otherwise  unknown. 

1  The  Centaurs  were  famed  for  their  drinking  capacity. 

3  Philip  of  Macedon. 

239 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XII 

Iactatur  rerum  utilium  pars  maxima,  sed  nee 
damna  levant,     tunc  adversis  urguentibus  illuc 
reccidit  ut  malum  ferro  summitteret ;  ac  se 
explicat  angustum  :  discriminis  ultima,  quando        55 
praesidia  adferimus  navem  factura  minorem. 
i  nunc  et  ventis  animam  committe  dolato 
confisus  ligno,  digitis  a  morte  remotus 
quattuor  aut  septem,  si  sit  latissima,  taedae  ; 
mox  cum  reticulis  et  pane  et  ventre  lagonae,  GO 

aspice  1  sumendas  in  tempestate  secures. 

Sed   postquam   iacuit   planum   mare,   tempora 
postquam 
prospera  vectoris  fatumque  valentius  Euro 
et  pelago,  postquam  Parcae  meliora  benigna 
pensa  manu  ducunt  hilares  et  staminis  albi  65 

lanificae,  modica  nee  multum  fortior  aura 
ventus  adest,  inopi  miserabilis  arte  cucurrit 
vestibus  extentis  et  quod  superaverat  unum 
velo  prora  suo.     iam  deficientibus  Austris 
spes  vitae  cum  sole  redit.     tunc  gratus  Iulo  70 

atque  novercali  sedes  praelata  Lavino 
conspicitur  sublimis  apex,  cui  Candida  nomen 
scrofa  dedit,  laetis  Phrygibus  mirabile  sumen, 
et  numquam  visis  triginta  clara  mamillis. 

Tandem  intrat  positas  inclusa  per  aequora  moles   75 
Tyrrhenamque  pharon  porrectaque  brachia  rursum 
quae  pelago  occurrunt  medio  longeque  relinquunt 
Italiam  ;  non  sic  igitur  mirabere  portus 

1  aspice  Pif/ :  accipe  Housm.:  respke  Iahn. 

1  The  Alban  Mount. 
240 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XII 

52  And  now  most  of  the  cargo  has  gone  overboard, 
but  even  these  losses  do  not  ease  the  vessel ;  so  in 
his  extremity  the  skipper  had  to  fall  back  upon 
cutting  away  the  mast,  and  so  find  a  way  out  of  his 
straits — a  dire  pass  indeed  when  no  remedy  can  be 
found  but  one  that  diminishes  the  ship  !  Go  now,  and 
commit  your  life  to  the  winds  !  Go  trust  yourself  to 
a  hewn  plank  which  parts  you  from  death  by  four 
finger-breadths,  or  seven  if  it  be  extra  thick  !  Only 
remember  in  future,  besides  your  bread  and  your 
bread-basket  and  your  pot-bellied  flagon,  to  take 
with  you  axes  also  for  use  in  time  of  storm. 

62  But  soon  the  sea  fell  flat,  and  our  mariners 
came  on  better  times.  Destiny  proved  stronger  than 
wind  and  wave  ;  the  glad  Fates,  with  kindly  hand, 
spun  a  yarn  of  white  wool,  there  sprang  up  what 
was  no  stronger  than  a  gentle  breeze,  under  which 
the  poor  ship  sped  on  by  the  sorry  help  of  out- 
stretched garments,  and  the  single  sail  now  left  to 
her  on  her  prow.  Soon  the  winds  abated,  and  out 
came  the  sun,  bringing  hope  of  life  ;  and  then  there 
came  into  view  the  beetling  height 1  so  dear  to  lulus, 
and  preferred  by  him  for  his  abode  to  his  step- 
mother's Lavinum,  a  height  that  took  its  name  from 
the  white  sow  whose  wondrous  womb  made  glad  the 
Phrygians'  hearts,  and  gained  fame  for  her  thirty 
teats — a  sight  never  seen  before  ! 

75  And  now  at  length  the  ship  comes  within  the 
moles  built  out  to  enclose  the  sea.2  She  passes  the 
Tyrrhenian  Pharos,  and  those  arms  which  stretch 
out  and  meet  again  in  mid-ocean,  leaving  Italy  far 
behind — a   port  more    wondrous    far  than  those   of 

2  The  port  of  Ostia,  built  by  Claudius  and  called  Portus 
Augusti, 

241 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XII 

quos  natura  dedit.     sed  trunca  puppe  magister 
interiora  petit,  Baianae  pervia  cumbae,  80 

tuti  stagna  sinus,     gaudent  ibi  vertice  raso 
garrula  securi  nan-are  pericula  nautae. 

Ite  igitur,  pueri,  linguis  anirnisque  faventes 
sertaque  delubris  et  farra  inponite  cultris 
ac  mollis  ornate  focos  glaebamque  virentem.  85 

iam  sequar  et  saero,  quod  praestat,  rite  peracto 
inde  domum  repetam,  graciles  ubi  parva  coronas 
accipiunt  fragili  simulacra  nitentia  cera. 
hie  nostrum  placabo  Iovem  Laribusque  paternis 
tura  dabo  atque  omnis  violae  iactabo  colores.  90 

cuncta  nitent,  longos  erexit  ianua  ramos 
et  matutinis  operatur  festa  lucernis. 

Nee  suspecta  tibi  sint  haec,  Corvine  :  Catullus, 
pro  cuius  reditu  tot  pono  altaria,  parvos 
tres  habet  heredes.     libet  expectare  quis  aegram    95 
et  claudentem  oculos  gallinam  inpendat  amico 
tarn  sterili ;  verum  haec  nimia  est  inpensa  :  coturnix 
nulla  umquam  pro  patre  cadet,     sentire  calorem 
si  coepit  locuples  Gallitta  et  Pacius  orbi, 
legitime  fixis  vestitur  tota  libellis  100 

porticus,  existunt  qui  promittant  hecatomben, 
quatenus  hie  non  sunt  nee  venales  elephanti, 
nee  Latio  aut  usquam  sub  nostro  sidere  talis 
belua  concipitur,  sed  furva  gente  petita 
arboribus  Rutulis  et  Tumi  pascitur  agro,  105 

Caesaris  armentum  nulli  servire  paratum 
privato,  siquidem  Tyrio  parere  solebant 


1  In  fulfilment,  no  doubt,  of  a  vow  made  in  the  moment  of 
danger. 

2  The  emperors  kept  a  herd  of  elephants  for  games,  etc., 
at  Laurentum,  near  the  kingdom  of  the  Rutulian  Turnus. 

242 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XII 

Nature's  making.  Then  the  skipper,  with  his 
crippled  ship,  makes  for  the  still  waters  of  the  inner 
basin  in  which  any  Baian  shallop  may  ride  in  safety. 
There  the  sailors  shave  their  heads  x  and  delight,  in 
garrulous  ease,  to  tell  the  story  of  their  perils. 

83  Away  then,  ye  boys,  and  with  reverent  tongues 
and  souls  hang  up  garlands  upon  the  shrines,  sprinkle 
meal  upon  the  knives,  and  deck  the  soft  altars  of 
verdant  turf.  I  will  quickly  follow,  and  having  duly 
performed  the  greater  rite,  will  return  thence  home, 
where  my  little  images  of  shining  crumbling  wax  are 
being  decked  with  slender  wreaths.  Here  will  I 
entreat  my  own  Jupiter ;  here  will  I  offer  incense 
to  my  paternal  Lares,  and  scatter  pansies  of  every 
hue.  Here  all  is  bright;  the  gateway,  in  token  of 
feast,  has  put  up  trailing  branches,  and  is  worshipping 
with  early-lighted  lamps. 

93  Look  not  askance,  Corvinus,  upon  these  rejoic- 
ings. The  Catullus  for  whose  return  I  set  up  all 
these  altars  has  three  little  heirs  of  his  own.  You 
may  wait  long  enough  before  you  find  anyone  to 
bestow  a  sickly  hen,  just  closing  her  eyes,  upon  so 
unprofitable  a  friend ;  nay,  a  hen  would  be  all  too 
costly :  no  quail  will  ever  fall  for  a  man  who  is 
a  father !  But  if  the  rich  and  childless  Gallitta  or 
Pacius  have  a  touch  of  fever,  their  entire  porticoes 
will  be  dressed  out  with  tablets  fastened  in  due  form; 
there  will  be  some  to  vow  hecatombs,  not  elephants, 
indeed,  seeing  that  elephants  are  not  for  sale,  nor  does 
that  beast  breed  in  Latium,  or  anywhere  beneath  our 
skies,  but  is  fetched  from  the  dark  man's  land,  and 
fed  in  the  Rutulian  forest  and  the  domains  of  Turn  us.2 
The  herd  is  Caesar's,2  and  will  serve  no  private 
master,  since  their  forefathers  were  wont  to  obey  the 

243 
r  2 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XII 

Hannibali  et  nostris  ducibus  regique  Molosso 

horum  maiores  ac  dorso  ferre  cohortis, 

partem  aliquam    belli,  et  euntem  in    proelia  tur- 

™  110 

rem.  1  x  u 

nulla  igitur  mora  per  Novium,  mora  nulla  per  Histrum 

Pacuvium,  quin  illud  ebur  dueatur  ad  aras 

et  cadat  ante  Lares  Gallittae  victima  sola 

tantis  digna  deis  et  captatoribus  horum. 

alter  enim,  si  coneedas,  mactare  vovebit  115 

de  grege  servorum  magna  et  pulcberrima  quaeque 

corpora,  vel  pueris  et  frontibus  ancillarum 

inponet  vittas,  et  siqua  est  nubilis  illi 

Iphigenia  domi,  dabit  banc  altaribus,  etsi 

non  sperat  tragicae  furtiva  piacula  cervae.  1 20 

Laudo  meum  civem,  nee  comparo  testamento 
mille  rates  ;  nam  si  Libitinam  evaserit  aeger, 
delebit  tabulas  inclusus  carcere  nassae 
post  meritum  sane  mirandum  atque  omnia  soli 
forsan  Pacuvio  breviter  dabit,  ille  superbus  125 

incedet  victis  rivalibus.     ergo  vides  quam 
grande  operae  pretium  faciat  iugulata  Mycenis. 
vivat  Pacuvius  quaeso  vel  Nestora  totum, 
possideat  quantum  rapuit  Nero,  montibus  aurum 
exaequet,   nee   amet   quemquam   nee   ametur   ab 
ullo.  13° 


1  Pyrrhus.  2  Legacy-hunters. 

3  Sacrificed  by  her  father  Agamemnon  to  procure  a  fair 
wind  for  the  Greek  fleet. 


244 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XII 

Tyrian  Hannibal  and  our  generals  and  the  Molos- 
sian  king,1  and  to  carry  cohorts  on  their  backs — no 
small  fraction  of  a  war — whole  towers  going  forth  to 
battle  !  Therefore  Novius2  would  not  hesitate,  Pacu- 
vius  Hister2  would  not  hesitate,  to  lead  that  ivoried 
monster  to  the  altar,  and  offer  it  to  Gallitta's  Lares, 
the  only  victim  worthy  of  such  august  divinities,  and 
of  those  who  hunt  their  gold.  For  the  latter  worthy, 
if  permitted,  will  vow  to  sacrifice  the  tallest  and 
comeliest  of  his  slaves  ;  he  will  place  fillets  on  the 
brows  of  his  slave-boys  and  maidservants  ;  if  he  has 
a  marriageable  Iphigenia3  at  home,  he  will  place 
her  upon  the  altar,  though  he  could  never  hope  for 
the  hind  of  tragic  story  to  provide  a  secret  sub- 
stitute.4 

121  I  commend  the  wisdom  of  my  fellow  townsman, 
nor  can  I  compare  a  thousand  ships  to  an  inherit- 
ance ;  for  if  the  sick  man  escape  the  Goddess  of 
Death,  he  will  be  caught  Avithin  the  net,  he  will 
destroy  his  will,  and  after  the  prodigious  services  of 
Pacuvius  will  maybe  by  a  single  word,  make  him 
heir  to  all  his  possessions,  and  Pacuvius  will  strut 
proudly  over  his  vanquished  rivals.  You  see  there- 
fore how  well  worth  while  it  was  to  slaughter  that 
maiden  at  Mycenae  !  Long  live  Pacuvius !  may  he 
live,  I  pray,  as  many  years  as  Nestor  ;  may  he  possess 
as  much  as  Nero  plundered  ;  may  he  pile  up  gold 
mountain-high  ;  may  he  love  no  one,  and  be  by  none 
beloved  ! 

4  Later  tradition  pretended  that   a  hind   had   been  sub- 
stituted for  Iphigenia. 


245 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  XIII 


SATVRA  XIII 

Exemi'Lo  quodcumque  malo  committitur,  ipsi 
displicet  auctori :  prima  est  haec  ultio,  quod  se 
iudice  nemo  nocens  absolvitur,  improba  quamvis 
gratia  fallaci  praetoris  vicerit  urna. 
quid  sentire  putas  omnes,  Calvine,  recenti  5 

de  seelere  et  fidei  violatae  crimine  ?     sed  nee 
tarn  tenuis  census  tibi  contigit,  ut  mediocris 
iacturae  te  mergat  onus,  nee  rara  videmus 
quae  pateris  ;  casus  multis  hie  cognitus  ac  iam 
tritus  et  e  medio  fortunae  ductus  acervo.  10 

ponamus  nimios  gemitus.     fiagrantior  aequo 
non  debet  dolor  esse  viri  nee  vulnere  maior. 
tu  quamvis  levium  minimam  exiguamque  malorum 
particulam  vix  ferre  potes  spumantibus  ardens 
visceribus,  sacrum  tibi  quod  non  reddat  amicus        15 
depositum  ;  stupet  haec  qui  iam  post  terga  reliquit 
sexasrinta  annos  Fonteio  consule  natus  ? 
an  nihil  in  melius  tot  rerum  proficis  1  usu  r 

Magna  quidem,  sacris  quae  dat  praecepta  libellis, 
victrix  fortunae  sapientia  ;  ducimus  autem  20 

hos  quoque  felices,  qui  ferre  incommoda  vitae 
nee  iactare  iugum  vita  didicere  magistra. 
quae  tarn  festa  dies,  ut  cesset  prodere  furem, 
perfidiam,  fraudes  atque  omni  ex  crimine  lucrum 
quaesitum  et  pai-tos  gladio  vel  pyxide  nummos  ?      25 

1  prqficit  P :  proficis  ^  and  Housm. 

1  C.  Fonteius  Capito,  consul  ad.  67.      That  fixes  the  date 
of  this  Satire  to  the  year  a.d.  127. 

246 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XIII 

SATIRE  XIII 
The  Terrors  of  a  Guilty  Conscience 

No  deed  that  sets  an  example  of  evil  brings  joy 
to  the  doer  of  it.  The  first  punishment  is  this  :  that 
no  guilty  man  is  acquitted  at  the  bar  of  his  own 
conscience,  though  he  have  won  his  cause  by  a 
juggling  urn,  and  the  corrupt  favour  of  the  judge. 
What  do  you  suppose,  Calvinus,  that  people  are  now 
thinking  about  the  recent  villainy  and  the  charge  of 
trust  betrayed  ?  Your  means  are  not  so  small  that 
the  weight  of  a  slight  loss  will  weigh  you  down  ; 
nor  is  your  misfortune  rare.  Such  a  mishap  has  been 
known  to  many ;  it  is  one  of  the  common  kind, 
plucked  at  random  out  of  Fortune's  heap.  Away 
with  undue  lamentations  !  a  man's  wrath  should  not 
be  hotter  than  is  fit,  nor  greater  than  the  loss  sus- 
tained. You  are  scarce  able  to  bear  the  very 
smallest  particle  of  misfortune  ;  your  bowels  foam 
hot  within  you  because  your  friend  will  not  give  up 
to  you  the  sacred  trust  committed  to  him ;  does  this 
amaze  one  who  was  born  in  the  Consulship  of  Fon- 
teius,1  and  has  left  sixty  years  behind  him  ?  Have 
you  gained  nothing  from  all  your  experience  ? 

19  Great  indeed  is  Philosophy,  the  conqueror  of 
Fortune,  and  sacred  are  her  precepts ;  but  they  too 
are  to  be  deemed  happy  who  have  learnt  under  the 
schooling  of  life  to  endure  its  ills  without  fretting 
against  the  yoke.  What  day  is  there,  however  festal, 
which  fails  to  disclose  theft,  treachery  and  fraud : 
gain  made  out  of  every  kind  of  crime,  and  money 
won  by  the  dagger  or  the  bowl  ?  2     For  honest  men 

2  Pyxis  is  any  bowl  made  of  boxwood. 

247 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XIII 

rati  quippe  boni :  numera,  vix  sunt  totidem  quot 
Thebarum  portae  vel  divitis  ostia  Nili. 
nona  1  aetas  agitur  peioraque  saecula  ferri 
temporibus,  quorum  sceleri  non  invenit  ipsa 
nomen  et  a  nullo  posuit  natura  metallo.  30 

nos  hominum  divumque  fidem  clamore  ciemus 
quanto  Faesidium  laudat  vocalis  agentem 
sportula.     die,  senior  bulla  dignissime,  nescis 
quas  habeat  veneres  aliena  pecunia  ?     nescis 
quern  tua  simplicitas  risum  vulgo  moveat,  cum         35 
exigis  a  quoquam  ne  peieret  et  putet  ullis 
esse  aliquod  numen  templis  araeque  rubenti  ? 
quondam  hoc  indigenae  vivebant  more,  priusquam 
sumeret  agrestem  posito  diademate  falcem 
Saturnus  fugiens,  tunc  cum  virguncula  Iuno  40 

et  privatus  adhuc  Idaeis  Iuppiter  antris ; 
nulla  super  nubes  convivia  caelicolarum, 
nee  puer  Iliacus  formosa  nee  Herculis  uxor 
ad  cyathos,  et  iam  siccato  nectare  tergens 
bracchia  Vulcanus  Liparaea  nigra  taberna.  45 

prandebat  sibi  quisque  deus,  nee  turba  deorum 
talis  ut  est  hodie,  contentaque  sidera  paucis 
numinibus  miserum  urguebant  Atlanta  minori 
pondere,  nondum  aliquis  2  sortitus  triste  profundi 

1  nona.     So  \f>  and  Housm.:  non  FGr :  PBiicli.  and  Owen 
have  the  unmeaning  nunc. 

2  aliquis  is  read  by  i^,  but  omitted  by  P.     Housm.  conj. 
imi.     See  Journal  of  Phil.  No.  67,  p.  42. 


1  Thebes  had  seven  gates,  the  Nile  seven  mouths. 

a  The  dole  {sportula)  is  called  "  vocal "  because  it  secures 
to  the  patron  the  applause  of  his  client  when  he  pleads  in 
court. 

248 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XIII 

are  scarce ;  hardly  so  numerous  as  the  gates  of 
Thebes,  or  the  mouths  of  the  enriching  Nile.1  We 
are  living  in  a  ninth  age  ;  an  age  more  evil  than  that 
of  iron — one  for  whose  wickedness  Nature  herself 
can  find  no  name,  no  metal  from  which  to  call  it. 
We  summon  Gods  and  men  to  our  aid  with  cries  as 
loud  as  that  with  which  the  vocal  dole2  applauds 
Faesidius  when  he  pleads.  Tell  me,  you  old  gentle- 
man, that  should  be  wearing  the  bulla 3  of  childhood, 
do  you  know  nothing  of  the  charm  of  other  people's 
money  ?  Are  you  ignorant  of  how  the  world  laughs 
at  your  simplicity  when  you  demand  of  any  man 
that  he  shall  not  perjure  himself,  and  believe  that 
some  divinity  is  to  be  found  in  temples  or  in  altars 
red  with  blood?  Primitive  men  lived  thus  in  the 
olden  days,  before  Saturn  laid  down  his  diadem  and 
fled,  betaking  himself  to  the  rustic  sickle  ;  in  the 
days  when  Juno  was  a  little  maid,  and  Jupiter  still 
a  private  gentleman  in  the  caves  of  Ida.4  In  those 
days  there  were  no  banquets  of  the  heavenly  host 
above  the  clouds,  there  was  no  Trojan  youth,  no  fair 
wife  of  Hercules5  for  cup-bearer,  no  Vulcan  wiping 
arms  begrimed  by  the  Liparaean6  forge  after  tossing 
off  his  nectar.  Each  God  then  dined  by  himself ; 
there  was  no  such  mob  of  deities  as  there  is  to-day  ; 
the  stars  were  satisfied  with  a  few  divinities,  and 
pressed  with  a  lighter  load  upon  the  hapless  Atlas. 
No  monarch  had  as  yet  had  the  gloomy  realms  below 
allotted  to  him ;  there   was  no  grim   Pluto   with  a 

3  The  bulla  was  a  case  of  gold  containing  an  amulet  against 
the  evil  ej'e,  worn  by  all  free-born  boys  until  they  put  on  the 
toga  virilis. 

4  Mount  Ida  in  Crete  where  Zeus  was  born.         B  Hebe. 

6  Lipari,  the  group  of  islands  elsewhere  called  Aeolian 
(i.  7)>  where  Vulcan's  forge  was  placed. 

249 


IVVENALIS  SATVRA  XIII 

impei-iunx,  aut  Sicula  torvos  cum  coniuge  Pluton,     50 
nee  rota  nee  Furiae  nee  saxum  aut  vulturis  atri 
poena,  sed  infernis  hilares  sine  regibus  umbrae, 
inprobitas  illo  fuit  admirabilis  aevo, 
credebant  quo  grande  nefas  et  morte  piandum, 
si  iuvenis  vetulo  non  adsurrexerat  et  si  55 

barbato  cuicumque  puer,  licet  ipse  videret 
plura  domi  fraga  et  maiores  glandis  acervos ; 
tam  venerabile  erat  praecedere  quattuor  annis, 
primaque  par  adeo  sacrae  lanugo  senectae. 

Nunc  si  depositum  non  infitietur  amicus,  60 

si  reddat  veterem  cum  tota  aerugine  follem, 
prodigiosa  fides  et  Tuscis  digna  libellis, 
quaeque  coronata  lustrari  debeat  agna. 
egregium  sanctumque  virum  si  cerno,  bimembri 
hoc  monstrum  puero  et  miranti J  sub  aratro  65 

piscibus  inventis  et  fetae  comparo  mulae, 
sollicituSj  tamquam  lapides  effuderit  imber 
examenque  apium  longa  consederit  uva 
culmine  delubri,  tamquam  in  mare  fluxerit  amnis 
gurgitibus  miris  et  lactis  vertice  torrens.  70 

Intercepta  decern  quereris  sestertia  fraude 
sacrilega.     quid  si  bis  centum  perdidit  alter 
hoc  arcana  modo  ?  maiorem  tertius  ilia 
summam,  quam  patulae  vix  ceperat  angulus  arcae  ? 
tam    facile    et   pronum    est   superos    contemnere 

testes,  75 

si  mortalis  idem  nemo  sciat !     aspice  quanta 
voce  neget,  quae  sit  ficti  constantia  vultus : 
per  Solis  radios  Tarpeiaque  fulmina  iurat 

1  So  \p  and  Housm. :  Biich.  follows  the  mirandis  of  P. 


1  The  wheel  of  Ixion.  2  The  stone  of  Sisyphus. 

3  Tityus  was  preyed  upon  by  a  vulture. 


250 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XIII 

Sicilian  spouse;  there  was  no  wheel,1  no  rock,2  no 
Furies,  no  black  torturing  Vulture  ; 3  the  shades  led 
a  merry  life,  with  no  kings  over  their  nether  world. 
Dishonesty  was  a  prodigy  in  those  days ;  men 
deemed  it  a  heinous  sin,  worthy  of  death,  if  a  youth 
did  not  rise  before  his  elders,  or  a  boy  before  any 
bearded  man,  though  he  himself  might  see  more 
strawberries,  and  bigger  heaps  of  acorns,  in  his  own 
home.  So  worshipful  was  it  to  be  older  by  four 
years,  so  equal  to  reverend  age  was  the  first  down  of 
manhood  ! 

60  But  nowadays,  if  a  friend  does  not  disavow  a 
sum  entrusted  to  him,  if  he  restore  the  old  purse 
with  all  its  rust,  his  good  faith  is  deemed  a  portent 
calling  for  the  sacred  books  of  Etruria,  and  to  be 
expiated  by  a  lamb  decked  with  garlands.  If  I  dis- 
cover an  upright  and  blameless  man,  I  liken  him  to 
a  boy  born  with  double  limbs,  or  to  fishes  found  by  a 
marvelling  rustic  under  the  plough,  or  to  a  pregnant 
mule :  I  am  as  concerned  as  though  it  had  rained 
stones,  or  a  swarm  of  bees  had  settled  in  a  long 
cluster  on  a  temple-roof,  or  as  though  some  river  had 
poured  down  wondrous  floods  of  milk  into  the  sea. 

71  You  complain,  do  you,  that  by  an  impious  fraud 
you  have  been  robbed  of  ten  thousand  sesterces  ? 
What  if  someone  else  has  by  a  like  fraud  lost  a  secret 
deposit  of  two  hundred  thousand  sesterces  ?  A  third 
a  still  greater  sum,  which  could  scarce  find  room  in 
the  corners  of  his  ample  treasure-chest  ?  So  simple 
and  easy  a  thing  is  it  to  disregard  heavenly  witnesses, 
if  no  mortal  man  is  privy  to  the  secret !  Hear 
how  loudly  the  fellow  denies  the  charge !  See 
the  assurance  of  his  perfidious  face  !  He  swears 
by  the  rays  of  the  sun  and  the  Tarpeian  thunder- 

251 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XIII 

et  Martis  frameam  et  Cirrhaei  spicula  vatis, 

per  calamos  venatricis  pharetramque  puellae  80 

perque  tuum,  pater  Aegaei  Neptune,  tridentem  ; 

addit  et  Herculeos  areus  hastamque  Minervae, 

quidquid  habent  telorum  armamentaria  caeli. 

si  vero  et  pater  est,  "  comedam/'  inquit  flebile,  "  nati 

sinciput  elixi  Pharioque  madentis  aceto."  85 

Sunt  in  fortunae  qui  casibus  omnia  ponant 
et  nullo  credant  mundum  rectore  moveri 
natura  volvente  vices  et  lucis  et  anni, 
atque  ideo  intrepidi  quaecumque  altaria  tangunt. 
est  alius  metuens  ne  crimen  poena  sequatur ;  90 

hie  putat  esse  deos  et  peierat,  atque  ita  secum  : 
"  decernat  quodcumque  volet  de  corpore  nostro 
Isis  et  irato  feriat  mea  lumina  sistro, 
dummodo  vel  caecus  teneam  quos  abnego  nummos. 
et  phthisis  et  vomicae  putres  et  dimidium  crus       95 
sunt  tanti.     pauper  locupletem  optare  podagram 
nee  dubitet  Ladas,  si  non  eget  Anticyra  nee 
Archigene  ;  quid  enim  velocis  gloria  plantae 
praestat  et  esuriens  Pisaeae  ramus  olivae  ? 
ut  sit  magna,  tamen  certe  lenta  ira  deorum  est ;    100 
si  curant  igitur  cunctos  punire  nocentes, 
quando  ad  me  venient  ?  sed  et  exorabile  numen 
fortasse  experiar,  solet  his  ignoscere.     multi 
committunt  eadem  diverso  crimina  fato  : 
ille  crucem  sceleris  pretium  tulit,  hie  diadema."    105 


1  A  famous  Greek  runner. 

2  An  island  on  which  hellebore,  the  remedy  for  madness, 
was  grown. 

3  An  olive-wreath  was  the  prize  at  the  Olympian  games. 

252 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XIII 

bolts;  by  the  lance  of  Mars  and  the  arrows  of  the 
Cirrhaean  Seer;  by  the  shafts  and  quiver  of  the 
maiden  huntress,  and  by  thine  own  trident,  O  Nep- 
tune, thou  lord  of  the  Aegaean  sea.  He  throws 
in  besides  the  bow  of  Hercules,  and  Minerva's  spear, 
and  all  the  weapons  contained  in  all  the  armouries 
of  Heaven;  if  he  be  a  father,  "May  I  eat,"  he 
tearfully  declares,  "my  own  son's  head  boiled,  and 
dripping  with  Egyptian  vinegar  !  " 

80  Some  think  that  all  things  are  subject  to  the 
chances  of  Fortune  ;  these  believe  that  the  world  has 
no  governor  to  move  it,  but  that  Nature  rolls  along 
the  changes  of  day  and  year  ;  they  will  therefore  lay 
their  hands  on  any  altar  you  please  without  a  tremor. 
Another  fears  that  punishment  will  follow  crime ; 
he  believes  that  there  are  Gods,  but  perjures  him- 
self all  the  same,  reasoning  thus  within  himself: 
"  Let  Isis  deal  with  my  body  as  she  wills,  and  blast 
my  sight  with  her  avenging  rattle,  provided  only 
that  even  when  blind  I  may  keep  the  money  which 
I  disavow ;  it  is  worth  having  phthisis  or  running 
ulcers  or  losing  half  one's  leg  at  the  price  !  Ladas  J 
himself,  if  not  needing  treatment  at  Anticyra  2  or 
by  Archigenes,  would  not  hesitate  to  accept  the  rich 
man's  gout ;  for  what  is  to  be  got  out  of  fame  for 
swiftness  of  foot,  or  from  a  hungry  branch  of  the 
Pisaean  Olive3?  The  wrath  of  the  Gods  may  be 
great,  but  it  assuredly  is  slow  ;  if  then  they  charge 
themselves  with  punishing  all  the  guilty,  when  will 
they  get  my  length  ?  And  besides  I  may  perchance 
find  the  God  placable ;  he  is  wont  to  forgive  things 
like  this.  Many  commit  the  same  crime  and  fare 
differently :  one  man  gets  a  gibbet,  another  a  crown, 
as  the  reward  of  crime." 

253 


IVVENALIS  SATVRA   XIII 

Sic  animum  dirae  trepidum  formidine  culpae 
eonfirmat,  tunc  te  sacra  ad  delubra  vocantem 
pvaecedit,  trahere  imrao  ultro  ac  vexare  paratus. 
nam  cum  magna  malae  superest  audacia  causae, 
credituT  a  multis  fiducia.     mimum  agit  ille,  110 

urbani  qualem  fugitivus  scurra  Catulli : 
tu  miser  exclamas,  ut  Stentora  vincere  possis, 
vel  potius  quantum  Gradivus  Homericus  :  "  audis, 
Iuppiter,  haec,  nee  labra  moves,  cum  mittere  vocem 
debueris  vel  marmoreus  vel  aeneus?  aut  cur  115 

in  carbone  tuo  charta  pia  tura  soluta 
ponimus  et  sectum  vituli  iecur  albaque  porci 
omenta  ?  ut  video,  nullum  discrimen  habendum  est 
effigies  inter  vestras  statuamque  Vagelli." 

Accipe  quae  contra  valeat  solacia  ferre  120 

et  qui  nee  cynicos  nee  stoica  dogmata  legit 
a  cynicis  tunica  distantia,  non  Epicurum 
suspicit  exigui  laetum  plantaribus  borti. 
curentur  dubii  medicis  maioribus  aegri : 
tu  venam  vel  discipulo  committe  Philippi.  125 

si  nullum  in  terris  tarn  detestabile  factum 
ostendis,  taceo,  nee  pugnis  caedere  pectus 
te  veto  nee  plana  faciem  contundere  pal  ma, 
quandoquidem  accepto  claudenda  est  ianua  damno, 
et  maiore  domus  gemitu,  maiore  tumultu  130 

planguntur  nummi  quam  funera.    nemo  dolorem 
fingit  in  hoc  casu,  vestem  diducere  summam 


»  See  viii.  186.  2  See  Horn.  II.  v.  785. 

3  The  Cynics  discarded  the  tunic. 
*  Some  inferior  doctor  ;  unknown. 


2  54 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XIII 

106  That  is  how  they  reassure  their  minds  when  in 
terror  for  some  deadly  guilt.  If  you  summon  them 
then  to  the  holy  shrine,  they  will  be  there  before 
you  ;  nay,  they  will  themselves  drag  you  thither,  and 
dare  you  to  the  proof;  for  when  a  bad  cause  is  well 
backed  by  a  bold  face,  the  man  gets  credit  for  self- 
confidence.  Such  a  one  plays  a  part,  like  the  runaway 
buffoon  of  the  witty  Catullus,1  but  you,  poor  wretch, 
may  shout  so  as  to  out-do  Stentor,2  or  rather  as 
loudly  as  the  Mars  of  Homer,  "  Do  you  hear  all  this, 
O  Jupiter,  with  lip  unmoved,  when  you  ought  to 
have  been  making  yourself  heard,  whether  you  be 
made  of  marble  or  of  bronze  ?  Else  why  do  I  open 
my  packet  of  holy  incense,  and  place  it  on  your 
blazing  altar  ?  Why  offer  slices  of  a  calf's  liver  or 
the  fat  of  a  white  pig  ?  So  far  as  I  can  see,  there  is 
nothing  to  choose  between  your  images  and  the 
statue  of  Vagellius  !  " 

120  And  now  hear  what  consolations  can  be  offered 
on  the  other  side  by  one  who  has  not  embraced  the 
doctrines  either  of  the  Cynics,  or  of  the  Stoics — who 
only  differ  from  the  Cynics  by  a  shirt3 — nor  yet 
reverenced  Epicurus,  so  proud  of  the  herbs  in  his  tiny 
garden.  Let  doubtful  maladies  be  tended  by  doctors 
of  repute  ;  your  veins  may  be  entrusted  to  a  disciple 
of  Philippus.4  If  in  all  the  world  you  cannot  show 
me  so  abominable  a  crime,  I  hold  my  peace ;  I  will 
not  forbid  you  to  smite  your  breast  with  your  fists, 
or  to  pummel  your  face  with  open  palm,  seeing  that 
after  so  great  a  loss  you  must  close  your  doors,  and 
that  a  household  bewails  the  loss  of  money  with 
louder  lamentations  than  a  death.  In  such  a  mis- 
fortune no  grief  is  simulated ;  no  one  is  content  to 
rend  the  top  of  his  garment,  or  to  squeeze  forced 

255 


IVVENALIS  SATVRA   XIII 

contentus,  vexare  oculos  umore  coacto  : 
ploratur  lac.rimis  amissa  pecunia  veris. 

Sed  si  cuncta  vides  simili  fora  plena  querella,    135 
si  decies  lectis  diversa  parte  tabellis 
vana  supervacui  dieunt  chirogvapha  ligni, 
arguit  ipsorum  quos  littera  gemmaque  princeps 
sardonychum,  loculis  quae  custoditur  eburnis, 
ten,  o  delicias  !   extra  communia  censes  HO 

ponendum,  quia  tu  gallinae  filius  albae, 
nos  viles  pulli,  nati  infelicibus  ovis  ? 
rem  pateris  modicam  et  mediocri  bile  ferendam, 
si  flectas  oculos  maiora  ad  crimina.     confer 
conductum  latronem,  incendia  sulpure  coepta        145 
atque  dolo,  primos  cum  ianua  colligit  ignes  ; 
confer  et  hos,  veteris  qui  tollunt  grandia  templi 
pocula  adorandae  robiginis  et  populorum 
dona  vel  antiquo  positas  a  rege  coronas  ; 
haec  ibi  si  non  sunt,  minor  exstat  sacrilegus  qui    150 
radat  inaurati  femur  Herculis  et  faciem  ipsam 
Neptuni,  qui  bratteolam  de  Castore  ducat ; 
an  dubitet  solitus  totum  conflare  Tonantem  ? 
confer  et  artifices  mercatoremque  veneni, 
et  deducendum  corio  bovis  in  mare,  cum  quo         155 
clauditur  adversis  innoxia  simia  fatis. 
haec  quota  pars  scelerum,  quae  custos  Gallicus  urbis 
usque  alucifero  donee  lux  occidat  audit  ? 
humani  generis  mores  tibi  nosse  volenti 
sufficit  una  domus  :  paucos  consume  dies  et  160 

dicere  te  miserum,  postquam  illinc  veneris,  aude. 

»  See  note  on  viii.  214. 
256 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XIII 

moisture  from  his    eyes ;   unfeigned   are    the   tears 
which  lament  the  loss  of  wealth. 

135  But  if  you  see  every  court  beset  with  complaints 
like  to  yours  ;  if  after  a  bond  has  been  read  over  ten 
times  by  the  opposing  party,  they  declare  the  docu- 
ment to  be  waste  paper,  though  convicted  by  their 
own  handwriting,  and  by  the  signet  ring,  most  choice 
of  sardonyx  stones,  kept  in  an  ivory  case — do  you, 
my  fine  fellow,  suppose  that_you  are  to  be  placed 
outside  the  common  lot,  because  you  were  born  of  a 
white  hen,  while  we  are  common  chickens,  hatched 
out  of  unlucky  eggs  ?  Your  loss  is  a  modest  one,  to 
be  endured  with  a  moderate  amount  of  choler,  if  you 
cast  an  eye  on  grosser  wrongs.  Compare  with  your 
case  the  hired  robber,  or  the  fire  purposely  stai-ted 
by  sulphur,  the  flame  bursting  out  at  your  front  door; 
think  too  of  those  who  carry  off  from  ancient  temples 
splendid  cups  of  venerable  antiquity,  that  were  the 
gift  of  nations,  or  crowns  dedicated  by  some  ancient 
monarch  !  If  such  things  are  not  to  be  had,  a  petty 
desecrator  will  be  found  to  scrape  off  the  gilding  from 
the  thigh  of  Hercules,  or  from  the  very  face  of  Nep- 
tune, or  to  strip  Castor  of  his  beaten  gold.  And  why 
should  he  hesitate,  Avhen  he  has  been  used  to  melt 
down  an  entire  Thunderer  ?  Compare  too  the  manu- 
facturers and  sellers  of  poison,  and  the  man  who 
should  be  cast  into  the  sea  inside  an  ox's  hide,  with 
whom  a  luckless  destiny  encloses  a  harmless  ape.1 
What  a  mere  fraction  these  of  the  crimes  which  Galli- 
cus,2  the  guardian  of  our  city,  has  to  listen  to  from 
dawn  to  eve  !  If  you  would  know  what  mankind  is 
like,  that  one  court-house  will  suffice  ;  spend  a  few 
days  in  it,  and  when  you  come  out,  dare  to  call  yourself 

8  Rutilius  Gallicus,  prefect  of  the  city  under  Domitian. 

257 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  XIII 

quis  tumidum  guttur  miratur  in  Alpibus,  aut  quis 
in  Meroe  crasso  maiorem  infante  mamillam  ? 
caerula  quis  stupuit  Germani  lumina,  flavam 
caesariem  et  madido  torquentem  cornua  cirro  ?      165 
[nempe  quod  haec  illis  natura  est  omnibus  una.] 
ad  subitas  Thracum  volucres  nubemque  sonoram 
Pygmaeus  parvis  currit  bellator  in  armis, 
mox  inpar  hosti  raptusque  per  aera  curvis 
unguibus  a  saeva  fertur  grue.     si  videas  hoc  170 

gentibus  in  nostris,  risu  quatiare  ;  sed  illic, 
quamquam  eadem  adsidue  spectentur  proelia,  ridet 
nemo,  ubi  tota  cohors  pede  non  est  altior  uno. 
"  Nullane  peiuri  capitis  fraudisque  nefandae 

poena    erit  ? "       abreptum    crede    hunc    graviore 

1 7^ 
catena  ± '  ° 

protinus  et  nostro  (quid  plus  velit  ira  ?)  necari 

arbitrio  :  manet  ilia  tamen  iactura,  nee  umquam 

depositum  tibi  sospes  erit,  sed  corpore  t  runco 

invidiosa  dabit  minimus  x  solacia  sanguis. 

"at  vindicta  bonum  vita  iucundius  ipsa."  180 

nempe  hoc  indocti,  quorum  praecordia  nullis 

interdum  aut  levibus  videas  flagrantia  causis ; 

quantulacumque  adeo  est  occasio  sufficit  irae. 

Chrysippus  non  dicet  idem  nee  mite  Thaletis 

ingenium  dulcique  senex  vicinus  Hymetto,  185 

qui  partem  acceptae  saeva  inter  vincla  cicutae 

accusatori  nollet  dare,     plurima  felix 

paulatim  vitia  atque  errores  exuit  omnes, 

1  minimus  PiJ/ :  Housm.  conj.  solum. 

»  An  island  in  Upper  Egypt  formed  by  two  branches  of  the 

Nile.  ,  .  .        , 

*  Legends  of  battles  between  cranes  and  pygmies  are  iound 

in  Homer  {11.  iii-  3-6),  Aristotle,  and  elsewhere. 
3  The  great  Stoic  philosopher,  B.C.  289-2U7. 

258 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XIII 

unfortunate.    Who  marvels  at  a  swollen  throat  in  the 
Alps  ?  or  in  Meroe !  at  a  woman's  breast  bigger  than 
her  sturdy  babe  ?     Who  is  amazed  to  see  a  German 
with  blue  eyes  and  yellow  hair,  twisting  his  greasy 
curls  into  a  horn  ?     We  marvel  not,  clearly  because 
this  one  nature  is  common  to  them  all.     The  Pygmy 
warrior  marches  forth  in  his  tiny  arms  to  encounter  the 
sudden  swoop  and  clamorous  cloud  of  Thracian  birds  ; 
but  soon,  no  match  for  his  foe,  he  is  snatched  up 
by  the  savage  crane  and  borne  in  his  crooked  talons 
through  the  air.2    If  you  saw  this  in  our  own  country, 
you  would  shake  with  laughter;  but  in  that  land, 
where  the  whole  host  is  only  one  foot  high,  though 
like  battles  are  witnessed  every  day,  no  one  laughs  ! 
174  c(  What  ?      Is  there  to  be  no  punishment  for 
that  perjured  soul  and  his  impious  fraud?"     Well, 
suppose    him   to   have    been   hurried  off    in    heavy 
chains,  and  slain  (what  more  could  anger  ask?)  at 
our  good  pleasure ;  yet  your  loss  still  remains,  your 
deposit  will  not  be  saved  ;  and  the  smallest  drop  of 
blood  from  that  headless  body  will  bring  you  hatred 
along  with  your  consolation.     "  O  !  but  vengeance 
is  good,  sweeter  than  life  itself."     Yes ;  so  say  the 
ignorant,  whose  passionate  hearts  you  may  see  ablaze 
at  the  slightest  cause,  sometimes  for  no  cause  at  all ; 
any  occasion,  indeed,  however  small  it  be,  suffices  for 
their  wrath.    But  so  will  not  Chrysippus  3  say,  or  the 
gentle  Thales,4  or  the  old  man  6  who  dwelt  near  sweet 
Hymettus,  who  would  have  given  to  his  accuser  no 
drop  of  the  hemlock-draught  which  was  administered 
to  him  in  that  cruel  bondage.     Benign  Philosophy, 
by  degrees,  strips  from  us  most  of  our  vices,  and  all 


*  The  Ionic  philosopher  of  Miletus,  about  B.C.  636-546 
4  Socrates. 

2 
s  2 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  XIII 

prima  docet  rectum  sapientia.     quippe  minuti 
semper  et  infirmi  est  animi  exiguique  voluptas      190 
ultio.     continuo  sic  collige,  quod  vindicta 
nemo  magis  gaudet  quam  femina. 

Cur  tamen  hos  tu 

evasisse  putes,  quos  diri  conscia  facti 

mens  habet  attonitos  et  surdo  verbere  caedit 

occultum  quatiente  animo  tortore  flagellum?  195 

poena  autem  vehemens  ac  multo  saevior  illis 

quas  et  Caedicius  gravis  invenit  et  Rhadamanthus, 

nocte  dieque  suum  gestare  in  pectore  testem. 

Spartano  cuidam  respondit  Pythia  vates 

haut  inpunitum  quondam  fore  quod  dubitaret        200 

depositum  retinere  et  fraudem  hire  tueri 

iurando  ;  quaerebat  enim  quae  numinis  esset 

mens  et  an  hoc  illi  facinus  suaderet  Apollo. 

reddidit  ergo  metn,  non  moribus  ;  et  tamen  omnem 

vocem  adyti  dignam  templo  veramque  probavit     205 

extinctus  tota  pariter  cum  prole  domoque, 

et  quamvis  longa  deductis  gente  propinquis. 

has  patitur  poenas  peccandi  sola  voluntas. 

nam  scelus  intra  se  taciturn  qui  cogitat  ullum, 

facti  crimen  habet. 

Cedo  si  conata  peregit :  210 

perpetua  anxietas  nee  mensae  tempore  cessat, 

faucibus  ut  morbo  siccis  interque  molares 

difficili  crescente  cibo,  sed  vina  misellus 

expuit,  Albani  veteris  pretiosa  senectus 

displicet ;  ostendas  melius,  densissima  ruga  21 5 


1  Not  known. 
260 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XIII 

our  mistakes  ;  it  is  she  that  first  teaches  us  the  right. 
For  vengeance  is  always  the  delight  of  a  little,  weak, 
and  petty  mind  ;  of  which  you  may  straightway  draw 
proof  from  this — that  no  one  so  rejoices  in  vengeance 
as  a  woman. 

192  But  why  should  you  suppose  that  a  man  escapes 
punishment  whose  mind  is  ever  kept  in  terror  by  the 
consciousness  of  an  evil  deed  which  lashes  him  with 
unheard  blows,  his  own  soul  ever  shaking  over  him 
the  unseen  whip  of  toi-ture  ?  It  is  a  grievous  punish- 
ment, more  cruel  far  than  any  devised  by  the  stern 
Caedicius1  or  by  Rhadamanthus,  to  carry  in  one's 
breast  by  night  and  by  day  one's  own  accusing  wit- 
ness. The  Pythian  prophetess  once  made  answer  to 
a  Spartan  that  it  would  not  pass  unpunished  in  after 
time  that  he  had  thought  of  keeping  back  a  sum  en- 
trusted to  him  supporting  the  wrong  by  perjury ; 
for  he  asked  what  was  the  mind  of  the  Deity,  and 
whether  Apollo  counselled  him  to  do  the  deed.  He 
therefore  restored  the  money,  through  fear,  and  not 
from  honesty  ;  nevertheless  he  found  all  the  words  of 
the  Oracle  to  be  true  and  worthy  of  the  shrine, 
being  destroyed  with  his  whole  race  and  family  and 
relations,  however  far  removed.  Such  are  the  penal- 
ties endured  by  the  mere  wish  to  sin ;  for  he  who 
secretly  meditates  a  crime  within  his  breast  has  all 
the  guiltiness  of  the  deed. 

210  What  then  if  the  purposed  deed  be  done  ?  His 
disquiet  never  ceases,  not  even  at  the  festal  board  ; 
his  throat  is  as  dry  as  in  a  fever ;  he  can  scarcely 
take  his  food,  it  swells  between  his  teeth ;  he  spits 
out  the  wine,  poor  wretch ;  he  cannot  abide  the 
choicest  old  Albanian,  and  if  you  bring  out  some- 
thing finer  still,  wrinkles  gather  upon   his  brow  as 

261 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  XIII 

cogitur  in  frontem  velut  acri  ducta  Falerno. 

nocte  brevem  si  forte  indulsit  cura  soporem, 

et  toto  versata  toro  iam  membra  quiescunt, 

continuo  templum  et  violati  numinis  aras 

et,  quod  praecipuis  mentem  sudoribus  urguet,       220 

te  videt  in  somnis  ;  tua  sacra  et  maior  imago 

humana  turbat  pavidum  cogitque  fateri. 

hi  sunt  qui  trepidant  et  ad  omnia  fulgura  pal  lent, 

cum  tonat,  exanimes  primo  quoque  murmure  caeli, 

non  quasi  fortuitus  nee  ventorum  rabie  sed  225 

iratus  cadat  in  terras  et  iudicet  ignis. 

ilia  nihil  nocuit,  cura  graviore  timetur 

proxima  tempestas  velut  hoc  dilata  sereno. 

praeterea  lateris  vigili  cum  febre  dolorem 

si  coepere  pati,  missum  ad  sua  corpora  morbum      230 

infesto  credunt  a  numine,  saxa  deorum 

haec  et  tela  putant.     pecudem  spondere  sacello 

balantem  et  Laribus  cristam  promittere  galli 

non  audent ;  quid  enim  sperare  nocentibus  aegris 

concessum  ?     vel  quae  non  dignior  hostia  vita  ?     235 

mobilis  et  varia  est  ferme  natura  malorum : 

cum  scelus  admittunt,  superest  constantia  ;  quod  fas 

atque  nefas,  tandem  incipiunt  sentire  peractis 

criminibus.     tamen  ad  mores  natura  recurrit 

damnatos  fixa  et  mutari  nescia.     nam  quis  240 

peccandi  finem  posuit  sibi  ?     quando  recepit 

eiectum  semel  attrita  de  fronte  ruborem  ? 

quisnam  hominum  est  quern  tu  contentum  videris  uno 

262 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XIII 

though  it  had  been  puckered  up  by  some  Falernian 
turned  sour.  In  the  night,  if  his  troubles  grant  him 
a  short  slumber,  and  his  limbs,  after  tossing  upon 
the  bed,  are  sinking  into  repose,  he  straightway  be- 
holds the  temple  and  the  altar  of  the  God  whom  he 
has  outraged  ;  and  what  weighs  with  chiefest  ten-or 
on  his  soul,  he  sees  you  in  his  dreams  ;  your  awful 
form,  larger  than  life,  frightens  his  quaking  heart  and 
wrings  confession  from  him.  These  are  the  men  who 
tremble  and  grow  pale  at  every  lightning-flash  ;  when 
it  thunders,  they  quail  at  the  first  rumbling  in  the 
heavens ;  not  as  though  it  were  an  affair  of  chance 
or  brought  about  by  the  raging  of  the  winds,  but  as 
though  the  flame  had  fallen  in  wrath  and  as  a  judg- 
ment upon  the  earth.  If  one  storm  pass  harmless 
by,  they  look  more  anxiously  for  the  next,  as  though 
this  calm  were  only  a  reprieve.  If,  again,  they 
suffer  from  pains  in  the  side,  with  a  fever  that  robs 
them  of  their  sleep,  they  believe  that  the  sickness  has 
been  inflicted  on  them  by  the  offended  Deity  :  these 
they  deem  to  be  the  missiles,  these  the  arrows  of  the 
Gods.  They  dare  not  vow  a  bleating  victim  to  a 
shrine,  or  offer  a  crested  cock  to  the  Lares ;  for  what 
hope  is  permitted  to  the  guilty  sick  ?  What  victim 
is  not  more  worthy  of  life  than  they  ?  Inconstant 
and  shifty,  for  the  most  part,  is  the  nature  of  bad 
men.  In  committing  a  crime,  they  have  courage 
enough  and  to  spare ;  they  only  begin  to  feel  what 
is  right  and  what  wrong  when  it  has  been  committed. 
Yet  nature,  firm  and  changeless,  returns  to  the 
ways  which  it  has  condemned.  For  who  ever  fixed  a 
term  to  his  own  offending?  When  did  a  hardened 
brow  ever  recover  the  banished  blush  ?  What  man 
have  you  ever  seen  that  was  satisfied  with  one  act  of 

263 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XIV 

flagitio  ?     dabit  in  laqueum  vestigia  noster 

perfidus  et  nigri  patietur  carceris  uncum  245 

aut  maris  Aegaei  rupem  scopulosque  frequentes 

exulibus  magnis.     poena  gaudebis  amara 

nominis  invisi,  tandemque  fatebere  laetus 

nee  surdum  nee  Teresian  quemquam  esse  deorum. 


SATVRA  XIV 

Plurima  sunt,  Fuscine,  et  fama  digna  sinistra 
et  nitidis  maculam  haesuram  figentia  rebus,1 
quae  monstrant  ipsi  pueris  traduntque  parentes. 
si  damnosa  senem  iuvat  alea,  ludit  et  heres 
bullatus  parvoque  eadem  movet  arma  fritillo.  5 

nee  melius  de  se  cuiquam  sperare  propinquo 
concede t  iuvenis,  qui  radere  tubera  terrae, 
boletum  condire  et  eodem  iure  natantis 
mergere  ficedulas  didicit  nebulone  parente 
et  cana  monstrante  gula  ;  cum  septimus  annus        10 
transient  puerum,  nondum  omni  dente  renato, 
barbatos  licet  admoveas  mille  inde  magistros, 
hinc  totidem,  cupiet  lauto  cenare  paratu 
semper  et  a  magna  non  degenerare  culina. 

Mitem   animum    et   mores   modicis    erroribus 
aequos  15 

praecipit,  atque  animas  servorum  et  corpora  nostra 
materia  constare  putat  paribusque  elementis, 

1  Biich.  (1910)  inserts  within  brackets  the  following  line 
found  in  if<  between  1  and  2  :  et  quod  maiorum  vitia  sequi- 
turque  minores.     AG  read  vitio  for  vitia, 

264 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XIV 

villainy  ?  Our  scoundrel  will  yet  put  his  feet  into  the 
snare  ;  he  will  have  to  endure  the  dark  prison-house 
and  the  staple,  or  one  of  those  crags  in  the  Aegaean 
sea  that  are  crowded  with  our  noble  exiles.  You  will 
exult  over  the  stern  punishment  of  a  hated  name, 
and  at  length  admit  with  joy  that  none  of  the  Gods 
is  deaf  or  like  unto  Tiresias.1 


SATIRE  XIV 
No  Teaching  like  that  of  Example 

There  are  many  things  of  ill  repute,  friend  Fusci- 
nus, — things  that  would  affix  a  lasting  stain  to  the 
brightest  of  lives, — which  parents  themselves  point 
out  and  hand  on  to  their  sons.  If  the  aged  father 
delights  in  ruinous  play,  his  heir  too  gambles  in 
his  teens,  and  rattles  the  selfsame  weapons  in  a  tiny 
dice-box.  If  a  youth  has  learnt  from  the  hoary 
gluttony  of  a  spendthrift  father  to  peel  truffles,  to 
preserve  mushrooms,  and  to  souse  beccaficoes  in  their 
own  juice,  none  of  his  relatives  need  expect  better 
things  of  him  when  he  grows  up.  As  soon  as  he  has 
passed  his  seventh  year,  before  he  has  cut  all  his 
second  teeth,  though  you  put  a  thousand  bearded 
preceptors  on  his  right  hand,  and  as  many  on  his 
left,  he  will  always  long  to  fare  sumptuously,  and 
not  fall  below  the  high  standard  of  "his  cookery. 

15  When  Rutilus  delights  in  the  sound  of  a  cruel 
flogging,  deeming  it  sweeter  than  any  siren's  song, 
and  being  himself  a  very  Antiphates,2  or  a  Poly- 
phemus, to  his  trembling  household,  is  he  inculcating 

1  The  soothsayer  Tiresias  was  blind. 

*  A  cruel  tyrant,  king  of  the  Laestrygones. 

265 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  XIV 

an  saevire  docet  Rutilus,  qui  gaudet  acerbo 
plagarum  strepitu  et  nullam  Sirena  flagellis 
conparat,  Antiphates  trepidi  laris  ac  Polyphemus,     20 
tunc  felix,  quotiens  aliquis  tortore  vocato 
uritur  ardenti  duo  propter  lintea  ferro  ? 
quid  suadet  iuveni  laetus  stridore  catenae, 
quern  mire  adficiunt  inscripta,  ergastula,  career  ? 
rusticus  expectas  ut  non  sit  adultera  Largae  25 

filia,  quae  numquam  maternos  dicere  moechos 
tarn  cito  nee  tanto  poterit  contexere  cursu, 
ut  non  terdecies  respiret  ?  conscia  mati-i 
virgo  fuit,  ceras  nunc  hac  dictante  pusillas 
implet  et  ad  moechum  dat  eisdem  ferre  cinaedis.       30 
sic  natura  iubet :  velocius  et  citius  nos 
corrumpunt  vitiorum  exempla  domestica,  magnis 
cum  subeant  animos  auctoribus.     unus  et  alter 
forsitan  haec  spernant  iuvenes,  quibus  arte  benigna 
et  meliore  luto  finxit  praecordia  Titan,  35 

sed  reliquos  fugienda  patrum  vestigia  ducunt 
et  monstrata  diu  veteris  trahit  orbita  culpae. 

Abstineas  igitur  damnandis.     huius  enim  vel 
una  potens  ratio  est,  ne  crimina  nostra  sequantui 
ex  nobis  geniti,  quoniam  dociles  imitandis  40 

turpibus  ac  pravis  omnes  sumus,  et  Catilinam 
quocumque  in  populo  videas,  quocumque  sub  axe, 
sed  nee  Brutus  erit  Bruti  nee  avunculus  usquam. 
nil  dictu  foedum  visuque  haec  limina  tangat, 

1  Prometheus,  who  made  mea  out  of  clay. 
266 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XIV 

gentleness,  and  leniency  to  slight  faults  :  does  he 
hold  that  the  bodies  and  souls  of  slaves  are  made  of 
the  same  stuff  and  elements  as  our  own  ;  or  is  he 
inculcating  cruelty,  never  happy  until  he  has  sum- 
moned a  torturer,  and  he  can  brand  some  one  with 
a  hot  iron  for  stealing  a  couple  of  towels?  What 
counsel  does  the  father  give  to  his  son  when  he 
revels  in  the  clanking  of  a  chain,  and  takes  wondrous 
pleasure  in  branded  slaves,  in  prisons  and  his  country 
bridewell  ?  Are  you  simple  enough  to  suppose  that 
Larga's  daughter  will  remain  virtuous  when  she 
cannot  count  over  her  mother's  lovers  so  rapidly,  or 
string  their  names  together  so  quickly,  as  not  to 
take  breath  full  thirty  times  ?  She  was  her  mother's 
confidante  as  a  girl ;  at  her  dictation  she  now  in- 
dites her  own  little  love-notes,  despatching  them  to 
her  paramours  by  the  hand  of  the  self-same  menials. 
So  Nature  ordains ;  no  evil  example  corrupts  us  so 
soon  and  so  rapidly  as  one  that  has  been  set  at  home, 
since  it  comes  into  the  mind  on  high  authority. 
Here  and  there  perhaps  a  youth  may  decline  to 
follow  the  bad  example  :  one  whose  soul  the  Titan1 
has  fashioned  with  kindlier  skill  and  of  a  finer  clay  ; 
but  the  rest  are  led  on  by  the  parental  steps  which 
they  should  avoid,  and  are  dragged  into  the  old 
track  of  vice  which  has  so  long  been  pointed  out  to 
them. 

38  Abstain  therefore  from  things  which  you  must 
condemn :  for  this  there  is  at  least  one  all-powerful 
motive,  that  our  crimes  be  not  copied  by  our  children. 
For  we  are  all  of  us  teachable  in  what  is  base  and 
wrong ;  you  may  find  a  Catiline  among  any  people, 
and  in  any  clime,  but  nowhere  will  you  find  a  Brutus, 
or  the  uncle  of  a  Brutus.     Let  no  foul  word  or  sight 

267 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  XIV 

intra  quae  pater  est x ;  procul,  a  procul  inde  puellae  45 

lenonum  et  cantus  pernoctantis  parasiti. 

maxima  debetur  puero  reverentia,  siquid 

turpe  paras ;  nee  tu  pueri  contempseris  annos, 

sed  peccaturo  obstet  tibi  filius  infans. 

nam  siquid  dignum  censoris  fecerit  ira  50 

quandoque  et  similem  tibi  se  non  corpore  tantum 

nee  vultu  dederit,  morum  quoque  filius,  et  qui 

omnia  deterius  tua  per  vestigia  peccet, 

corripies  nimirum  et  castigabis  acerbo 

clamore  ac  post  haec  tabulas  mutai'e  parabis.  55 

unde  tibi  frontem  libertatemque  parentis, 

cum  facias  peiora  senex  vacuumque  cerebro 

iam  pridem  caput  hoc  ventosa  cucurbita  quaerat  ? 

Hospite  venturo  cessabit  nemo  tuorum. 
"  verre  pavimentum,  nitidas  ostende  columnas,        60 
arida  cum  tota  descendat  aranea  tela  ; 
hie  leve  argentum,  vasa  aspera  tergeat  alter"  : 
vox  domini  furit  instantis  virgamque  tenentis. 
ergo  miser  trepidas,  ne  stercore  foeda  canino 
atria  displiceant  oculis  venientis  amici,  65 

ne  perfusa  luto  sit  porticus ;  et  tamen  uno 
semodio  scobis  haec  emendat  servulus  unus : 
illud  non  agitas,  ut  sanctam  filius  omni 
aspiciat  sine  labe  domum  vitioque  carentem  ? 
gratum  est  quod  patriae  civem  populoque  dedisti,     70 
si  facis  ut  patriae  2  sit  idoneus,  utilis  agris, 
utilis  et  bellorum  et  pacis  rebus  agendis. 
plurimum  enim  intererit  quibus  artibus  et  quibus 
hunc  tu 

1  est  Pi|/  :  es  Housm.  after  Cramer. 

2  patriae  ^ :  patria  PS  :  Housm.  conj.  civis, 
268 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XIV 

cross  the  threshold  within  Avhich  there  is  a  father. 
Away  with  you,  ye  hireling  damsels  !  Away  with 
the  songs  of  the  night-revelling  parasite !  If  you 
have  any  evil  deed  in  mind,  you  owe  the  greatest 
reverence  to  the  young  ;  disregard  not  your  boy's  ten- 
der years,  and  let  your  infant  son  stand  in  the  way  of 
the  sin  that  you  propose.  For  if  some  day  or  other 
he  shall  do  a  deed  deserving  the  censor's  wrath,  and 
shall  show  himself  like  to  you,  not  in  form  and  face 
only,  but  also  your  child  in  vice,  and  following  in  all 
your  footsteps  with  sin  deeper  than  your  own,  you 
will  doubtless  rebuke  him  and  chide  him  angrily 
and  thereafter  prepare  to  change  your  will.  But  how 
can  you  assume  the  grave  brow  and  the  free  tone  of 
a  father  if  you  in  your  old  age  are  doing  things 
worse  than  he  did,  and  your  own  empty  pate  has 
long  been  needing  the -windy  cupping-glass? 

59  When  you  expect  a  guest,  not  one  of  your 
household  will  be  idle.  "Sweep  the  pavement! 
Polish  up  the  pillars  !  Down  with  that  dusty  spider, 
web  and  all !  One  of  you  clean  the  plain  silver, 
another  the  embossed  vessels!"  So  shouts  the 
master,  standing  over  them  whip  in  hand.  And  so  you 
are  afraid,  poor  fool,  that  the  eyes  of  your  expected 
guest  may  be  offended  by  the  sight  of  dog's  filth  in 
the  hall  or  of  a  portico  splashed  with  mud — things 
which  one  slave-boy  can  put  right  with  half  a  peck 
of  sawdust :  and  yet  will  you  take  no  pains  that  your 
son  may  behold  a  stainless  home,  free  from  any  stain 
and  blemish?  It  is  good  that  you  have  presented 
your  country  and  your  people  with  a  citizen,  if  you 
make  him  serviceable  to  his  country,  useful  for  the 
land,  useful  for  the  things  both  of  peace  and  war. 
For  it  will  make  all  the  difference  in  what  practices, 

269 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  XIV 

moribus  instituas.     serpente  ciconia  pullos 

nutrit  et  inventa  per  devia  rura  lacerta  :  75 

illi  eadem  sumptis  quaerunt  animalia  pinnis. 

vultur  iumento  et  canibus  crucibusque  relictis 

ad  fetus  properat  partemque  cadaveris  adfert : 

hie  est  ergo  cibus  magni  quoque  vulturis  et  se 

pascentis,  propria  cum  iam  facit  arbore  nidos.  80 

sed  leporem  aut  capream  famulae  Iovis  et  generosae 

in  saltu  venantur  aves,  hinc  pi-aeda  cubili 

ponitur  :  inde  autem  cum  se  matura  levavit 

progenies,  stimulante  fame  festinat  ad  illam 

quam  primum  praedam  rupto  gustaverat  ovo.  85 

Aedificator  erat  Cretonius  et  modo  curvo 
litore  Caietae,  summa  nunc  Tiburis  arce, 
nunc  Praenestinis  in  montibus  alta  parabat 
culmina  villarum  graecis  longeque  petitis 
marmoribus   vincens    Fortunae    atque    Herculis 

aedem,  90 

ut  spado  vincebat  Capitolia  nostra  Posides. 
dum  sic  ergo  habitat  Cretonius,  inminuit  rem, 
fregit  opes,  nee  parva  tamen  mensura  relictae 
partis  erat :  totam  hanc  turbavit  Alius  amens, 
dum  meliore  novas  attollit  marmore  villas.  95 

Quidam  sortiti  metuentem  sabbata  patrem 
nil  praeter  nubes  et  caeli  numen  adorant, 
nee  distare  putant  humana  carne  suillam, 
qua  pater  abstinuit,  mox  et  praeputia  ponunt ; 

1  There  were  great  temples  of  Fortuna  at  Praeneste,  of 
Hercules  at  Tibur. 

*  A  freedman  of  Claudius. 

3  The  phrase  caeli  numen  is  hard  to  translate.  What 
Juvenal  means  is  that  the  Jews  worshipped  no  concrete 
deity,  such  as  could  be  pourtrayed,  but  only  some  impalpable 
mysterious  spirit.  They  did  not  worship  the  sky  or  the 
heavens,  but  only  the  numen  of  the  heavens.     This  is  what 

270 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XIV 

in  what  habits,  you  bring  him  up.  The  stork  feeds 
her  young  upon  the  serpents  and  the  lizards  which 
she  finds  in  the  wilds ;  the  young  search  for  the 
same  things  when  they  have  gotten  to  themselves 
wings.  The  vulture  hurries  from  dead  cattle  and 
dogs  and  gibbets  to  bring  some  of  the  carrion  to 
her  offspring  ;  so  this  becomes  the  food  of  the  vulture 
when  he  is  full-grown  and  feeds  himself,  making  his 
nest  in  a  tree  of  his  own.  The  noble  birds  that  wait 
on  Jove  hunt  the  hare  or  the  roe  in  the  woods,  and 
from  them  serve  up  prey  to  their  eyrie ;  so  when 
their  progeny  are  of  full  age  and  soar  up  from  the 
nest,  hunger  bids  them  swoop  down  upon  that 
same  prey  which  they  had  first  tasted  when  they 
chipped  the  shell. 

86  Cretonius  was  given  to  building  ;  now  on  Caieta's 
winding  shore,  now  on  the  heights  of  Tibur, 
now  on  the  Praenestine  hills,  he  would  rear  lofty 
mansions,  with  marbles  fetched  from  Greece  and 
distant  lands,  outdoing  the  temples  of  Fortune  and  of 
Hercules1  by  as  much  as  the  eunuch  Posides2  over- 
topped our  own  Capitol.  Housed  therefore  in  this 
manner,  he  impaired  his  fortune  and  frittered  away 
his  wealth ;  some  goodly  portion  of  it  still  remained, 
but  it  was  all  squandered  by  his  madman  of  a  son  in 
building  new  mansions  of  still  costlier  marbles. 

96  Some  who  have  had  a  father  who  reveres  the 
Sabbath,  worship  nothing  but  the  clouds,  and  the 
divinity  of  the  heavens,3  and  see  no  difference  be- 
tween eating  swine's  flesh,  from  which  their  father 
abstained,  and  that  of  man ;  and  in  time  they  take 

Tacitus  means  when  he  says  (Hist.  v.  5)  "The  Jews  worship 
with  the  mind  alone."  So  Lucan.  ii.  592-3  dedita  sacris 
Incerti  Judaea  dei. 

271 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XIV 

Romanas  autem  soliti  contemnere  leges  100 

Iudaicum  ediscunt  et  servant  ac  metuunt  ius, 
tradidit  arcano  quodcumque  volumine  Moyses, 
non  monstrare  vias  eadem  nisi  sacra  colenti, 
quaesitum  ad  fontem  solos  deducere  verpos. 
sed  pater  in  causa,  cui  septima  quaeque  fuit  lux     105 
ignava  et  partem  vitae  non  attigit  ullam. 

Sponte  tamen  iuvenes  imitantur  cetera,  solam 
inviti  quoque  avaritiam  exercere  iubentur. 
fallit  enim  vitium  specie  virtutis  et  umbra, 
cum  sit  triste  habitu  vultuque  et  veste  severum,   110 
nee  dubie  tamquam  frugi  laudetur  avarus, 
tamquam  parcus  homo  et  rerum  tutela  suarum 
certa  magis  quam  si  fortunas  l  servet  easdem 
Hesperidum  serpens  aut  Ponticus.     adde  quod 

hunc  de 
quo  loquor  egregium  populus  putat  adquirendi      115 
artificem  ;  quippe  his  crescunt  patrimonia  fabris. 
sed  crescunt  quocumque  modo,  maioraque  fiunt 
incude  adsidua  semperque  ardente  camino. 

Et  pater  ergo  animi  felices  credit  avaros  ; 
qui  miratur  opes,  qui  nulla  exempla  beati ;  120 

pauperis  esse  putat,  iuvenes  hortatur  ut  ilia 
ire  via  pergant 2  et  eidem  incumbere  sectae. 
sunt  quaedam  vitiorum  elementa,  his  protinus  illos 
inbuit  et  cogit  minimas  ediscere  sordes  ; 
mox  adquirendi  docet  insatiabile  votum.  125 

servorum  ventres  modio  castigat  iniquo 

1  PFGU  have  fortuna,  other  MSS.  fortunas  :  Biich.  (1910) 
reads  a  fortuna.  2  pergant  ty  :  peragant  P. 


i  It  is  possible  that  this  refers  to  the  practice  of  baptism 
which  had  become  usual  among  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  our 
Lord,  as  we  see  from  the  case  of  John  the  Baptist. 


272 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XIV 

to  circumcision.  Having  been  wont  to  flout  the  laws 
of  Rome,  they  learn  and  practise  and  revere  the 
Jewish  law,  and  all  that  Moses  committed  to  his 
secret  tome,  forbidding  to  point  out  the  way  to  any 
not  worshipping  the  same  rites,  and  conducting  none 
but  the  circumcised  to  the  desired  fountain.1  For 
all  which  the  father  was  to  blame,  who  gave  up  every 
seventh  day  to  idleness,  keeping  it  apart  from  all  the 
concerns  of  life.2 

107  All  vices  but  one  the  young  imitate  of  their 
own  free  will;  avarice  alone  is  enjoined  on  them 
against  the  grain.  For  that  vice  has  a  deceptive 
appearance  and  semblance  of  virtue,  being  gloomy  of 
mien,  severe  in  face  and  garb.  The  miser  is  openly 
commended  for  his  thrift,  being  deemed  a  saving 
man,  who  will  be  a  surer  guardian  of  his  own  wealth 
than  if  it  Avere  watched  by  the  dragons  of  the  Hes- 
perides  or  of  Colchis.  Moreover,  such  a  one  is 
thought  to  be  skilled  in  the  art  of  money-getting ; 
for  it  is  under  workers  such  as  he  that  fortunes  grow. 
And  they  grow  bigger  by  every  kind  of  means  :  the 
anvil  is  ever  working,  and  the  forge  never  ceases  to 
glow. 

119  Thus  the  father  deems  the  miser  to  be  fortunate ; 
and  when  he  worships  wealth,  believing  that  no  poor 
man  was  ever  happy,  he  urges  his  sons  to  follow  in 
the  same  path  and  to  attach  themselves  to  the  same 
school.  There  are  certain  rudiments  in  vice  ;  in  these 
he  imbues  them  from  the  beginning,  compelling  them 
to  study  its  pettiest  meannesses  ;  after  a  while  he 
instructs  them  in  the  inappeasable  lust  of  money- 
getting.     He  pinches  the  bellies  of  his  slaves  with 

2  Tacitus  also  attributed  the  Sabbath  to  laziness  ;  and 
adds  devn  blandiente  inertia  septhnum  quoque  annum  iqnaviae 
datum  ( Hist.  v.  4). 

273 
T 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  XIV 

ipse  quoque  esuriens,  neque  enim  omnia  sustinet 

umquam 
mucida  caerulei  panis  consumere  frusta, 
hesternum  solitus  medio  servare  minutal 
Septembri  nee  non  differre  in  tempora  cenae  IdU 

alterius  conehem  aestivam  cum  parte  lacerti 
signatam  vel  dimidio  putrique  siluro, 
filaque  sectivi  numerata  includere  porn, 
invitatus  ad  haec  aliquis  de  ponte  negabit. 
sed  quo  divitias  haec  per  tormenta  coactas,  1^0 

cum  furor  haut  dubius,  cum  sit  manifesta  phrenesis, 
ut  locuples  moriaris,  egentis  vivere  fato  ? 
interea  pleno  cum  target  sacculus  ore, 
crescit  amor  nummi  quantum  ipsa  pecuma  crevit, 
et  minus  hanc  optat  qui  non  habet.  ergo  paratur  140 
altera  villa  tibi,  cum  rus  non  sufficit  unum, 
et  proferre  libet  fines  maiorque  videtur 
et  melior  vicina  seges,  mercaris  et  hanc  et 
arbusta  et  densa  montem  qui  canet  oliva. 
quorum  si  pretio  dominus  non  vincitur  ullo,  140 

nocte  boves  macri  lassoque  famehca  collo 
iumenta  ad  virides  huius  mittentur  anstas, 
nee  prius  inde  domum  quam  tota  novalia  saevos 
in  ventres  abeant,  ut  credas  falcibus  actum, 
dicere  vix  possis  quam  multi  talia  plorent  I0U 

et  quot  venales  iniuria  fecerit  agros. 
'  Sed  qui  sermones,  quam  foedae  »  bucina  famae  1 
«  quid  nocet  haec  ?  "  inquit,  «  tunicam  mihi  malo 

lupini 
quam  si  me  toto  laudet  vicinia  pago      ^ 
exigui  ruris  paucissima  farra  secantem.  ioo 

i  negabit  $  :  negavit  PS  :  negabal  0. 
2  crevit  P  :  alii  crescit. 
8  foedae  ^ :  foede  FG. 

274 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XIV 

short  rations,  starving  himself  into  the  bargain  ;  for 
he  cannot  bear  to  eat  up  all  the  mouldy  fragments 
of  stale  bread.     In  the  middle  of  September  he  will 
save  up  the  hash  of  yesterday;   in  summer-time  he 
will  preserve  under  seal  for  to-morrow's  dinner  a  dish 
of  beans,  with  a  bit  of  mackerel,  or  half  a  stinking 
sprat,  counting  the  leaves  of  the  cut  leeks  before  he 
puts  them  away.     No  beggar  from  a  bridge  would 
accept  an  invitation  to  such  a  meal !      But  for  what 
end  do  you  pile  up  riches  gathered  through  torments 
such  as  these,  when  it  is  plain  madness  and  sheer 
lunacy  to  live  in  want  that  you  may  be  wealthy  when 
you  die?       Meantime,  while  your  purse  is  full  to 
bursting,  your  love  of  gain  grows  as  much  as  the 
money  itself  has  grown,  and  the  man  who  has  none 
of  it  covets  it  the  least.     And  so  when  one  country 
house  is  not   enougli    for   you,   you  buy  a  second; 
then  you  must  extend  your  boundaries,  because  your 
neighbour's  field  seems  bigger  and  better  than  your 

T'V-iTt  mUSt  buy  that  t00>  and  his  vineyard,  and 
the  hill  that  is  thick  and  grey  with  olive-trees.  And 
if  no  price  will  persuade  the  owner  to  sell,  you  will 
send  into  his  green  corn  by  night  a  herd  of  lean  and 
tarnished  cattle,  with  wearied  necks,  who  will  not 
come  home  until  they  have  put  the  whole  crop  into 
their  ravenous  bellies  ;  no  sickle,  could  make  a  cleaner 
job  !  How  many  bewail  wrongs  like  these  can  scarce 
be  told,  nor  how  many  fields  have  been  brought  to 
the  hammer  by  such  outrages. 

152  But  what  a  talk  there  will  be !  How  loud  the 
blast  of  evil  rumour  !  «  What  harm  in  that  ?  "  you 
will  say:  "better  keep  my  peapods  for  myself  than 
have  the  praises  of  the  whole  country-side  if  I  am 
to  have  but  a  small  farm  and  a  miserable  crop." 

275 
t  2 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XIV 

scilicet  et  morbis  et  debilitate  carebis, 

etluctum  et  curam  effugies,  et  tempora  vitae 

longa  tibi  posthac  fato  meliore  dabuntur, 

si  tantum  culti  solus  possederis  agri 

quantum  sub  Tatio  populus  Romanus  arabat.  160 

mox  etiam  fractis  aetate  ac  Punica  passis 

proelia  vel  Pyrrhum  inmanem  gladiosque  Molossos 

tandem  pro  multis  vix  iugera  bina  dabantur 

vulneribus  ;  merces  haec  sanguinis  atque  laboris 

nullis  visa  umquam  meritis  minor,  aut  ingratae      165 

curta  fides  patriae  ;  saturabat  glaebula  talis 

patrem  ipsum  turbamque  casae,  qua  feta  iacebat 

uxor  et  infantes  ludebant  quattuor,  unus 

vernula,  tres  domini ;  sed  magnis  fratribus  horum 

a  scrobe  vel  sulco  redeuntibus  altera  cena  170 

amplior  et  grandes  fumabant  pultibus  ollae : 

nunc  modus  hie  agri  nostro  non  sufficit  horto. 

Inde  fere  scelerum  causae,  nee  plura  venena 
miscuit  aut  ferro  grassatur  saepius  ullum 
humanae  mentis  vitium  quam  saeva  cupido  1 7  0 

tnmodici  census,     nam  dives  qui  fieri  vult, 
et  cito  vult  fieri ;  sed  quae  reverentia  legum, 
quis  metus  aut  pudor  est  umquam  properantis  avari? 
«  vivite  contenti  casulis  et  collibus  istis, 
o  pueri,"  Marsus  dicebat  et  Hernicus  olim  180 

Vestinusque  senex;  "panem  quaeramus  aratro, 
qui  satis  est  mensis  ;  laudant  hoc  numina  runs, 
quorum  ope  et  auxilio  gratae  post  munus  aristae 
contingunt  homini  veteris  fastidia  quercus. 

276 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XFV 

Yes ;  and  no  doubt  you  will  escape  disease  and 
weakness,  you  will  have  no  sorrow,  no  trouble,  you 
will  have  long  and  ever  happier  days,  if  only  you 
are  sole  possessor  of  as  many  acres  of  good  land  as 
the  Roman  people  tilled  in  the  days  of  Tatius.  In 
later  times,  Romans  broken  with  old  age,  who  had 
fought  in  the  Punic  battles  or  against  the  dread 
Pyrrhus  or  the  swords  of  the  Molossians,  received  at 
last,  in  return  for  all  their  wounds,  a  scanty  two 
acres  of  land.  None  ever  deemed  such  recompense 
too  small  fo*  their  service  of  toil  and  blood ;  none 
spoke  of  a  shabby,  thankless  country.  A  little  plot 
like  that  would  feed  the  father  himself  and  the 
crowd  at  the  cottage  where  lay  the  wife  in  child- 
bed, with  four  little  ones  playing  around — one  slave- 
born,  three  the  master's  own  ;  for  their  big  brothers, 
on  their  return  from  ditch  or  furrow,  a  second  and 
ampler  supper  of  porridge  would  be  smoking  in  a 
lordly  dish.  To-day  we  don't  think  such  a  plot  of 
ground  big  enough  for  our  garden ! 

173  It  is  here  mostly  that  lies  the  cause  of  crime. 
No  human  passion  has  mingled  more  poison-bowls, 
none  has  more  often  wielded  the  murderous  dagger, 
than  the  fierce  craving  for  unbounded  wealth.  For 
the  man  who  wants  wealth  must  have  it  at  once ; 
what  respect  for  laws,  what  fear,  what  sense  of  shame 
is  to  be  found  in  a  miser  hurrying  to  be  rich  ?  "  Live 
content,  my  boys,  with  these  cottages  and  hills  of 
yours,"  said  the  Marsian  or  Hernican  or  Vestinian 
father  in  the  days  of  yore  ;  "  let  the  plough  win  for 
us  what  bread  shall  suffice  our  table ;  such  fare  the 
rustic  Gods  approve,  whose  aid  and  bounty  gave  us  the 
glad  ear  of  corn,  and  taught  man  to  disdain  the  acorn 
of  ancient  times.     The  man  who  is  not  ashamed  to 

277 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XIV 

nil  vetitum  fecisse  volet  quern  non  pudet  alto       185 
per  glaciem  perone  tegi,  qui  summovet  Euros 
pellibus  inversis  :  peregrina  ignotaque  nobis 
ad  scelus  atque  nefas,  quaecumque  est,  purpura  duett.'' 

Haec  illi  veteres  praecepta  minoribus,  at  nunc 
post  finem  autumni  media  de  nocte  supinum  190 

clamosus  iuvenem  pater  excitat :  "  accipe  ceras, 
scribe,  puer,  vigila,  causas  age,  perlege  rubras 
maiorum  leges,  aut  vitem  posce  libello. 
sed  caput  intactum  buxo  naresque  pilosas 
adnotet  et  grandes  miretur  Laelius  alas^  195 

dirue  Maurorum  attegias,  castella  Brigantum, 
ut  locupletem  aquilam  tibi  sexagesimus  annus 
adferat.     aut  longos  castrorum  ferre  labores 
si  piget  et  trepidum  solvunt  tibi  cornua  ventrem 
cum  lituis  audita,  pares  quod  vendere  possis  200 

pluris  dimidio,  nee  te  fastidia  mercis 
ullius  subeant  ablegandae  Tiberim  ultra, 
neu  credas  ponendum  aliquid  discriminis  inter 
unguenta  et  corium  ;  lucri  bonus  est  odor  ex  re 
qualibet.     ilia  tuo  sententia  semper  in  ore  205 

versetur  dis  atque  ipso  love  digna  poeta : 
'  unde  habeas  quaerit  nemo,  sed  oportet  habere.' 
hoc  monstrant  vetulae  pueris  repentibus  assae, 
hoc  discunt  omnes  ante  alpha  et  beta  puellae." 

Talibus    instantem    monitis   quemcumque    par- 
entem  210 

sic  possem  adfari :  "  die,  o  vanissime,  quis  te 
festinare  iubet  ?  meliorem  praesto  magistro 


1  A  powerful  British  tribe,  occupying  the  greater  part  of 
England  north  of  the  Humber. 

2  i.e.   the  post  of  Senior  Centurion  (centurio  primi  pili), 
who  had  charge  of  the  eagle  of  the  legion. 

278 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XIV 

wear  high  boots  in  time  of  frost,  and  who  keeps  off 
the  East  wind  with  skins  tm-ned  inwards,  will  never 
wish  to  do  a  forbidden  thing;  it  is  purple  raiment, 
whatever  it  be,  foreign  and  unknown  to  us,  that  leads 
to  crime  and  wickedness." 

189  Such  were  the  maxims  which  those  ancients 
taught  the  young  ;  but  now,  when  autumn  days  are 
over,  the  father  l-ouses  his  sleeping  son  after  mid- 
night with  a  shout :  "  Awake,  boy,  and  take  your 
tablets  ;  scribble  away  and  get  up  your  cases  ;  read 
through  the  red-lettered  laws  of  our  forefathers,  or 
send  in  a  petition  for  a  centurion's  vine-staff*.  See 
that  Laelius  notes  your  uncombed  head  and  hairy 
nostrils,  and  admires  your  broad  shoulders  ;  destroy 
the  huts  of  the  Moors  and  the  forts  of  the  Brigantes,1 
that  your  sixtieth  year  may  bring  you  the  eagle 2 
that  will  make  you  rich.  Or  if  you  are  too  lazy  to 
endure  the  weary  labours  of  the  camp,  if  the  sound 
of  horn  and  trumpet  melts  your  soul  within  you,  buy 
something  that  you  can  sell  at  half  as  much  again  ; 
feel  no  dissrust  at  a  trade  that  must  be  banished  to 
the  other  side  of  the  Tiber  ;  make  no  distinction 
between  hides  and  unguents :  the  smell  of  gain  is 
good  whatever  the  thing  from  which  it  comes.  Lei 
this  maxim  be  ever  on  your  lips,  a  saying  worthy  of 
the  Gods,  and  of  Jove  himself  if  he  turned  poet : 
'  No  matter  whence  the  money  comes,  but  money 
you  must  have.' "  These  are  the  lessons  taught 
by  skinny  old  nurses  to  little  boys  before  they  can 
walk  ;  this  is  what  every  girl  learns  before  her 
ABC! 

210  To  any  father  urging  precepts  such  as  these  I 
would  say  this  :  "  Tell  me,  O  emptiest  of  men,  who 
bids  you  hurry  ?     The   disciple,  I   warrant  you,  will 

279 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XIV 

discipulum.     securus  abi :  vinceris  ut  Aiax 
praeteriit  Telamonem,  ut  Pelea  vicit  Achilles, 
parcendum    est   teneris,    nondum    implevere    me- 
dullas 215 
maturae  l  mala  nequitiae.     cum  pectere  barbam 
coeperit  et  longae  mucronem  admittere  cultri, 
falsus  erit  testis,  vendet  periuria  summa 
exigua  et  Cereris  tangens  aramque  pedemque. 
elatam  iam  crede  nurum,  si  limina  vestra  220 
mortifera  cum  dote  subit.     quibus  ilia  premetur 
per  somnum  digitis !  nam  quae  terraque  marique 
adquirenda  putas,  brevior  via  conferet  illi ; 
nullus  enim  magni  sceleris  labor.      '  haec  ego  num- 

quam 
mandavi,'  dices  olim,  <nec  talia  suasi.'  225 

mentis  causa  malae  tamen  est  et  origo  penes  te. 
nam  quisquis  magni  census  praecepit  amorem 
et  laevo  monitu  pueros  producit  avaros 
et  qui  per  fraudes  patrimonia  conduplicari 2 
dat  libertatem  et  totas  effundit  habenas  230 

curriculo,  quern  si  revoces,  subsistere  nescit 
et  te  contempto  rapitur  metisque  relictis. 
nemo  satis  credit  tantum  delinquere  quantum 
permittas  :  adeo  indulgent  sibi  latius  ipsi. 

"  Cum  dicis  iuveni  stultum  qui  donet  amico,       235 
qui  paupertatem  levet  attollatque  propinqui, 
et  spoliare  doces  et  circumscribere  et  omni 
crimine  divitias  adquirere  ;  quarum  amor  in  te 
quantus  erat  patriae  Deciorum  in  pectore,  quantum 
dile.-dt  Thebas,  si  Graecia  vera,  Menoeceus,  240 

1  maturae  "  quinque  Rupertii":  naturae  Pi|/. 

2  After  229  Housm.  inserts  a  conj.  line,  cum  videant,  cupiant 
sic  et  sua  conduplicari. 

1  Slew  himself  to  save  Thebea. 
280 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XIV 

outstrip  his  master.  You  may  leave  him  with  an  easy 
mind  ;  you  will  be  outdone  as  surely  as  Telamon  was 
beaten  by  Ajax,  or  Peleus  by  Achilles.  Be  gentle 
with  the  young ;  their  bones  are  not  yet  filled  up 
with  the  marrow  of  ripe  wickedness.  When  the  lad 
begins  to  comb  a  beard,  and  apply  to  its  length  the 
razor's  edge,  he  will  give  false  testimony,  he  will 
sell  his  perjuries  for  a  trifling  sum,  touching  the 
altar  and  the  foot  of  Ceres  all  the  time.  If  your 
daughter-in-law  brings  a  deadly  dowry  into  the  house, 
you  may  count  her  as  already  dead  and  buried.  What 
a  grip  of  fingers  will  throttle  her  in  her  sleep  !  For 
the  wealth  which  you  think  should  be  hunted  for 
over  land  and  sea,  your  son  will  acquire  by  a 
shorter  road  ;  great  crimes  demand  no  labour.  Some 
day  you  will  say,  'I  never  taught  these  things,  I 
never  advised  them ' :  no,  but  you  are  yourself  the 
cause  and  origin  of  your  son's  depravity ;  for  who- 
soever teaches  the  love  of  wealth  turns  his  sons  into 
misers  by  his  ill-omened  instruction.  When  he  shows 
him  how  to  double  his  patrimony  by  fraud,  he  gives 
him  his  head,  and  throws  a  free  rein  over  the 
car ;  try  to  call  him  back,  and  he  cannot  stop  :  he 
will  pay  no  heed  to  you,  he  will  rush  on,  leaving  the 
turning-post  far  behind.  No  man  is  satisfied  with 
sinning  just  as  far  as  you  permit :  so  much  greater 
is  the  license  which  they  allow  themselves  ! 

235  "When  you  tell  a  youth  that  a  man  is  a  fool  who 
makes  a  present  to  a  friend,  or  relieves  and  lightens 
the  poverty  of  a  kinsman,  you  teach  him  to  plunder 
and  to  cheat  and  to  commit  any  kind  of  crime  for 
money's  sake,  the  love  of  which  is  as  great  in  you  as 
was  love  of  their  country  in  the  hearts  of  the  Decii, 
or   in   that   of   Menoeceus,1  if  Greece  speaks  true 

281 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XIV 

in  quorum  sulcis  legiones  dentibus  anguis 
cum  clipeis  nascuntur  et  horrida  bella  capessunt 
continue-,  tamquam  et  tubicen  surrexerit  una. 
ergo  ignem,  cuius  scintillas  ipse  dedisti, 
flagrantem  late  et  rapientem  cuncta  videbis.  245 

nee  tibi  parcetur  misero,  trepidumque  magistrum 
in  cavea  magno  fremitu  leo  toilet  alumnus, 
nota  mathematicis  genesis  tua,  sed  grave  tardas 
expectare  colus  ;  morieris  stamine  nondum 
abrupto.     iam  nunc  obstas  et  vota  moraris,  250 

iam  torquet  iuvenem  longa  et  cervina  senectus. 
ocius  Archigenen  quaere  atque  erne  quod  Mithridates 
composuit ;  si  vis  aliam  decerpere  ficum 
atque  alias  tractare  rosas,  medicamen  habendum  est, 
sorbere    ante    cibum   quod   debeat    et    pater   et 
rex."  2o5 

Monstro  voluptatem  egregiam,  cui  nulla  theatra, 
nulla  aequare  queas  praetoris  pulpita  lauti, 
si  spectes  quanto  capitis  discrimine  constent 
incrementa  domus,  aerata  multus  in  area 
fiscus  et  ad  vigilem  ponendi  Castora  nummi,  260 

ex  quo  Mars  Vltor  galeam  quoque  perdidit  et  res 
non  potuit  servare  suas.     ergo  omnia  Florae 
et  Cereris  licet  et  Cybeles  aulaea  relinquas  : 
tanto  maiores  humana  negotia  ludi. 
an  magis  oblectant  animum  iactata  petauro  265 

corpora  quique  solet  rectum  descendere  funem, 
quam  tu,  Corycia  semper  qui  puppe  moraris, 
atque  habitas,  Coro  semper  tollendus  et  Austro, 

1  Money  was  deposited  in  the  temple  of  Castor,  in  the 
Forum. 

2  The  temple  of  Mars  Ultor,  in  the  Forum  Augusti,  seems 
to  have  been  burgled. 

3  i.e.  the  games.  *  Corycus.  a  town  in  Cilicia. 

282 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XIV 

for  Thebes — that  country  in  whose  furrows  armed 
legions  sprang  into  life  out  of  dragons'  teeth,  taking 
straightway  to  grim  battle  as  though  a  bugler  had 
also  risen  up  along  with  them.  Thus  you  will  see 
the  fire,  whose  sparks  you  yourself  have  kindled, 
blazing  far  and  wide  and  carrying  all  before  them. 
Nor  will  you  yourself,  poor  wretch,  meet  with  any 
mercy  ;  the  pupil  lion,  with  a  loud  roar,  will  devour  the 
trembling  instructor  in  his  den.  Your  nativity,  you 
say,  is  known  to  the  astrologers :  but  it  is  a  tedious 
thing  to  wait  for  the  slow-running  spindle,  and  you 
will  die  before  your  thread  is  snapped.  You  are  already 
in  your  son's  way;  you  are  delaying  his  prayers  ;  your 
long  and  stag-like  old  age  is  a  torment  to  the  young 
man.  Seek  out  Archigenes  at  once  ;  buy  some  of  the 
mixture  of  Mithridates ;  if  you  wish  to  pluck  one 
more  fig,  and  gather  roses  once  again,  you  should  have 
some  medicament  to  be  swallowed  before  dinner  by 
one  who  is  both  a  father  and  a  king." 

256  I  am  showing  you  the  choicest  of  diversions, 
one  with  which  no  theatre,  no  show  of  a  grand 
Praetor  can  compare,  if  you  will  observe  at  what  a 
risk  to  life  men  increase  their  fortunes,  become  pos- 
sessors of  full  brass-bound  treasure-chests,  or  of  the 
cash  which  must  be  deposited  with  watchful  Castor,1 
ever  since  Mars  the  Avenger  lost  his  helmet  and 
failed  to  protect  his  own  effects.2  So  you  may  give 
up  all  the  performances  of  Flora,  of  Ceres,  and  of 
Cybele3;  so  much  finer  are  the  games  of  human 
life.  Is  there  more  pleasure  to  be  got  from  gazing 
at  men  hurled  from  a  spring-board,  or  tripping  down 
a  tight  rope,  than  from  yourself— you  who  spend  your 
whole  life  in  a  Corycian4  ship,  ever  tossed  by  the 
wind    from    North    or  South,   a   poor   contemptible 

283 


IVVENALIS    SATVRA   XIV 

perditusac  vilis  1  sacci  mercator  olentis, 

qui  gaudes  pingue  antiquae  de  litore  Cretae  270 

passum  et  municipes  Iovis  advexisse  lagonas  ? 

hie  tamen  ancipiti  figens  vestigia  planta 

victum  ilia  mercede  parat,  brumamque  famemque 

ilia  reste  cavet :  tu  propter  mille  talenta 

et  centum  villas  temerarius.     aspice  portus  275 

et  plenum  magnis  trabibus  mare  :  plus  hominum  es 

iam 
in  pelago.     veniet  classis  quocumque  vocarit 
spes  lucrij  nee  Carpathium  Gaetulaque  tantum 
aequora  transiliet,  sed  longe  Calpe  relicta 
audiet  Herculeo  stridentem  gurgite  solem.  280 

grande  operae  pretium  est,  ut  tenso  folle  reverti 
inde  domum  possis  tumidaque  supei'bus  aluta, 
Oceani  monstra  et  iuvenes  vidisse  mai'inos. 

Non  unus  mentes  agitat  furor  ;  ille  sororis 
in  manibus  vultu  Eumenidum  terretur  et  igni,       285 
hie  bove  percusso  mugire  Agamemnona  credit 
aut  Ithacum  :  parcat  tunicis  licet  atque  lacernis, 
curatoris  eget  qui  navem  mercibus  implet 
ad  summum  latus  et  tabula  distinguitur  unda, 
cum  sit  causa  mali  tanti  et  discriminis  huius  290 

concisum  argentum  in  titulos  faciesque  minutas. 
occurrunt  nubes  et  fulgura  :  "  solvite  funem  " 
frumenti  dominus  clamat  piperisve  coempti, 
"  nil  color  hie  caeli,  nil  fascia  nigra  minatur ; 

1  ac  vilis  P  etc.:  a  siculis  ty:  ac  similis  conj.    Housm.: 
assiculis  Biich.  (1910). 


1  Because  Zeus  was  born  in  Crete. 

2  The  rock  of  Gibraltar.  3  i.e.  Orestes. 


284 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XIV 

trafficker  in  stinking  wares,  finding  your  joy  in  im- 
porting sweet  wine  from  the  shores  of  ancient  Crete, 
or  flagons  that  were  fellow-citizens  of  Jove  ? l  Yet 
the  man  who  plants  his  steps  with  balanced  foot  gains 
his  livelihood  thereby;  that  rope  keeps  him  from 
cold  and  hunger ;  while  you  run  the  risk  for  the  sake 
of  a  thousand  talents  or  a  hundred  mansions.  Look 
at  our  ports,  our  seas,  crowded  with  big  ships !  The 
men  at  sea  now  outnumber  those  on  shore.  Whither- 
soever hope  of  gain  shall  call,  thither  fleets  will  come  ; 
not  content  with  bounding  over  the  Carpathian  and 
Gaetulian  seas,  they  will  leave  Calpe2  far  behind, 
and  hear  the  sun  hissing  in  the  Herculean  main. 
It  is  well  worth  while,  no  doubt,  to  have  beheld  the 
monsters  of  the  deep  and  the  young  mermen  of  the 
Ocean  that  you  may  return  home  with  tight-stuffed 
purse,  and  exult  in  your  swollen  money-bags  ! 

284  Not  all  men  are  possessed  with  one  form  of 
madness.  One  3  madman  in  his  sister's  arms  is  ter- 
rified by  the  faces  and  fire  of  the  Furies ;  another,4 
when  he  strikes  down  an  ox,  believes  that  it  is 
Agamemnon  or  the  Ithacan 5  that  is  bellowing.  The 
man  who  loads  his  ship  up  to  the  gunwale  with 
goods,  with  only  a  plank  between  him  and  the  deep, 
is  in  need  of  a  keeper,  though  he  keep  his  hands  off 
his  shirt  and  his  cloak,  seeing  that  he  endures  all 
that  misery  and  all  that  danger  for  the  sake  of  bits 
of  silver  cut  up  into  little  images  and  inscriptions! 
Should  clouds  and  thunder  threaten,  "  Let  go  !  "  cries 
the  merchant  who  has  bought  up  corn  or  pepper, 
"  that  black  sky,  this  dark  wrack,  are  nought — it  is 

4  i.e.  Ajax,  who  went  mad,  slaughtering  a  flock  of  sheep 
in  the  belief  that  he  was  slaying  Agamemnon  and  Ulysses. 
6  Ulyssea. 

285 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XIV 

aestivum  tonat."     infelix  hac  forsitan  ipsa  295 

nocte  cadet  fractis  trabibus  fluctuque  premetur 
obrutus  et  zonam  laeva  morsuque  tenebit. 
sed  cuius  votis  modo  non  suftecerat  aurum 
quod  Tagus  et  rutila  volvit  Pactolus  harena, 
frigida  sufficient  velantes  inguina  panni  300 

exiguusque  cibus,  mersa  rate  naufragus  assem 
dum  rogat  et  picta  se  tempestate  tuetur. 

Tantis  parta  malis  cura  maiore  metuque 
servantur  :  misera  est  magni  custodia  census, 
dispositis  praedives  amis  vigilare  cohortem  305 

servorum  noctu  Licinus  iubet,  attonitus  pro 
electro  signisque  suis  Phrygiaque  columna 
atque  ebore  et  lata  testudine.     dolia  nudi 
non  ardent  cynici ;  si  fregeris,  altera  net 
eras  domus,  atque  eadem  plumbo  commissa  mane- 
bit.  310 
sensit  Alexander,  testa  cum  vidit  in  ilia 
magnum  habitatorem,  quanto  felicior  hie  qui 
nil  cuperet  quam  qui  totum  sibi  posceret  orbem 
passurus  gestis  aequanda  pericula  rebus. 
nullum  numen  habes,  si  sit  prudentia  :  nos  te,       315 
nos  facimus,  Fortuna,  deam.1 

Mensura  tamen  quae 
sufficiat  census,  siquis  me  consulat,  edam  : 
in  quantum  sitis  atque  fames  et  frigora  poscunt, 
quantum,  Epicure,  tibi  parvis  suffecit  in  hortis, 
quantum  Socratici  ceperunt  ante  penates  ;  320 

numquam  aliud  natura,  aliud  sapientia  dicit. 
acribus  exemplis  videor  te  cludere  ?  misce 
ergo  aliquid  nostris  de  moribus,  effice  summam 

1  The  sentence  nullum — deam,  is  repeated  from  x.  365,  quite 
irrelevantly. 

1  The  gold-bearing  river  of  Lydia.         2  Diogenes. 
286 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XIV 

but  summer  lightning."  Poor  wretch  !  on  this  very 
night  perchance  he  will  be  cast  out  amid  broken 
timbers  and  engulfed  by  the  waves,  clutching  his 
purse  with  his  left  hand  or  his  teeth.  The  man  for 
whose  desires  yesterday  not  all  the  gold  which  Tagus 
and  the  ruddy  Pactolus  x  rolls  along  would  have  suf- 
ficed, must  now  content  himself  with  a  rag  to  cover 
his  cold  and  nakedness,  and  a  poor  morsel  of  food, 
while  he  begs  for  pennies  as  a  shipwrecked  mariner, 
and  supports  himself  by  a  painted  storm  ! 

303  Wealth  gotten  with  such  woes  is  preserved  by 
fears  and  troubles  that  are  greater  still ;  it  is  misery 
to  have  the  guardianship  of  a  great  fortune.  The 
millionaire  Licinus  orders  a  troop  of  slaves  to  be  on 
the  watch  all  night  with  fire  buckets  in  their  places, 
being  anxious  for  his  amber,  his  statues  and  Phry- 
gian marbles,  his  ivory  and  plaques  of  tortoise-shell. 
The  nude  Cynic  2  fears  no  fire  for  his  tub  ;  if  broken, 
he  will  make  himself  a  new  house  to-morrow,  or 
repair  it  with  clamps  of  lead.  When  Alexander 
beheld  in  that  tub  its  mighty  occupant,  he  felt  how 
much  happier  was  the  man  who  had  no  desires  than 
he  who  claimed  for  himself  the  entire  world,  with 
perils  before  him  as  great  as  his  achievements.  Had 
we  but  wisdom,  thou  wouldst  have  no  Divinity,  O 
Fortune  :  it  is  we  that  make  thee  into  a  Goddess  ! 

316  Yet  if  any  should  ask  of  me  what  measure  of 
fortune  is  enough,  I  will  tell  him :  as  much  as  thirst, 
cold  and  hunger  demand  ;  as  much  as  sufficed  you, 
Epicurus,  in  your  little  garden ;  as  much  as  in  earlier 
days  was  to  be  found  in  the  house  of  Socrates.  Never 
does  Nature  say  one  thing  and  Wisdom  another.  Do 
the  limits  within  which  I  confine  you  seem  too  severe  ? 
Then  throw  in  something  from  our  own  manners ; 

287 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  XV 

bis  septem  ordinibus  quam  lex  dignatur  Othonis. 
haec  quoque  si  rugam   trahit  extenditque  label- 

lum,  325 

sume  duos  equites,  fac  tertia  quadringenta 
si  nondum  inplevi  gremium,  si  panditur  ultra, 
nee  Croesi  fortuna  umquam  nee  Persica  regna 
sufficient  animo  nee  divitiae  Narcissi, 
indulsit  Caesar  cui  Claudius  omnia,  cuius  330 

paruit  imperiis  uxorem  occidere  iussus. 


SATVRA  XV 

Quis  nescit,  Volusi  Bithynice,  qualia  demens 
Aegyptos  portenta  colat  ?  crocodilon  adorat 
pars  haec,  ilia  pavet  saturam  serpentibus  ibin  ; 
effigies  sacri  nitet  aurea  cercopitheci, 
dimidio  magicae  resonant  ubi  Memnone  chordae       5 
atque  vetus  Thebe  centum  iacet  obruta  portis. 
illic  aeluros,1  hie  piscem  fluminis,  illic 
oppida  tota  canem  venerantur,  nemo  Dianam. 
porrum  et  caepe  nefas  violare  et  frangere  morsu  ; 
o  sanctas  gentes  quibus  haec  nascuntur  in  hortis     10 
numina  !  lanatis  animalibus  abstinet  omnis 
mensa,  nefas  illic  fetum  iugulare  capellae  : 
carnibus  humanis  vesci  licet,     attonito  cum 
1  aeluros  Brod.  :  illic  caeruhos  y. 

1  See  note  on  iii.  155. 

2  The  most  powerful  and  wealthiest  of  Claudius'  freedmen. 

3  For  the  part  played  by  Narcissus  in  securing  the  punish- 
ment  of  Messalina,  see  Tac.  Ann.  xi.  33-37. 

288 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XV 

make  up  a  sum  as  big  as  that  which  Otho's  law1 
deems  worthy  of  the  fourteen  rows.  If  that  also 
knits  your  brow,  and  makes  you  thrust  out  your  lip, 
take  a  couple  of  knights,  or  make  up  thrice  four 
hundred  thousand  sesterces !  If  your  lap  is  not  yet 
full,  if  it  is  still  opening  for  more,  then  neither  the 
wealth  of  Croesus,  nor  that  of  the  Persian  Monarchs, 
will  suffice  you,  nor  yet  that  of  Narcissus,2  on  whom 
Claudius  Caesar  lavished  everything,  and  whose 
orders  he  obeyed  when  bidden  to  slay  his  wife.3 


SATIRE  XV 

An  Egyptian  Atrocity 

Who  knows  not,  O  Bithynian  Volusius,  what  mon- 
sters demented  Egypt  worships  ?  One  district  adores 
the  crocodile,  another  venerates  the  Ibis  that  gorges 
itself  with  snakes.  In  the  place  where  magic  chords 
are  sounded  by  the  truncated  Memnon/  and  ancient 
hundred-gated  Thebes  lies  in  ruins,  men  worship 
the  glittering  golden  image  of  the  long-tailed  ape. 
In  one  part  cats  are  worshipped,  in  another  a 
river  fish,  in  another  whole  townships  venerate  a 
dog;  none  adore  Diana,  but  it  is  an  impious 
outrage  to  crunch  leeks  and  onions  with  the  teeth. 
What  a  holy  race  to  have  such  divinities  spring- 
ing up  in  their  gardens!  No  animal  that  grows 
wool  may  appear  upon  the  dinner-table;  it  is  for- 
bidden there  to  slay  the  young  of  the  goat;  but 
it   is   lawful    to   feed  on  the  flesh  of  man !     When 

*  The  famous  statue  of  Memnon  at  Thebes,  which  emitted 
musical  sounds  at  daybreak. 

289 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  XV 

tale  super  cenam  facinus  narraret  Vlixes 

Alcinoo,  bilem  aut  risum  fortasse  quibusdam  15 

moverat  ut  mendax  aretalogus.     "  in  mare  nemo 

hunc  abicit  saeva  dignum  veraque  Charybdi, 

fingentem  inmanes  Laestrygonas  atque  Cyclopas  ? 

nam  citius  Scyllam  vel  concurrentia  saxa 

Cyaneis  plenos  et  tempestatibus  utres  20 

crediderim  aut  tenui  percussum  verbere  Circes 

et  cum  remigibus  grunnisse  Elpenora  porcis. 

tarn  vacui  capitis  populum  Phaeaca  putavit  ?  " 

sic  aliquis  merito  nondum  ebrius  et  minimum  qui 

de  Corcyraea  temetum  duxerat  urna.  25 

solus  enim  haec  Itbacus  nullo  sub  teste  canebat ; 

Nos  miranda  quidem,  set  nuper  consule  Iunco1 
gesta  super  calidae  refer  emus  moenia  Copti, 
nos  volgi  scelus  et  cunctis  graviora  cotburnis  ; 
nam   scelus,    a    Pyrra   quamquam   omnia   syrmata 

volvas,  30 

nullus  aput  tragicos  populus  facit.     accipe,  nostro 
dira  quod  exemplum  feritas  produxerit  aevo. 

Inter  finitimos  vetus  atque  antiqua  simultas, 
inmortale  odium  et  numquam  sanabile  vulnus, 
ardet  adhuc  Ombos  et  Tentyra.    summus  utrimque  35 
inde  furor  volgo,  quod  numina  vicinorum 
odit  uterque  locus,  cum  solos  credat  habendos 

1  iunco  Bob.AU:  iunpo  P:  iunio  <|/. 


i  King  of  the  Phaeacians,   to  whom  Ulysses  narrated  his 

adventures.  ,      .    . 

2  The  clashing  rocks  {cvfj^Xyyades)  at  the  mouth  of  the 

Bosporus.  .    ,      _. 

a  One  of  the  crew  of  Ulysses  turned  into  a  pig  by  Circe. 

290 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XV 

Ulysses  told  a  tale  like  this  over  the  dinner-table 
to  the  amazed  Alcinous,1  he  stirred  some  to  wrath, 
some  perhaps  to  laughter,  as  a  lying  story-teHer. 
"What?"  one  would  say,  "will  no  one  hurl  this 
fellow  into  the  sea,  who  merits  a  terrible  and  a  true 
Charybdis  with  his  inventions  of  monstrous  Laestry- 
gones  and  Cyclopes  ?  For  I  could  sooner  believe  in 
Scylla,  and  the  clashing  Cyanean  rocks,2  and  skins 
full  of  storms,  or  in  the  story  how  Circe,  by  a  gentle 
touch,  turned  Elpenor  3  and  his  comrades  into  grunt- 
ing swine.  Did  he  deem  the  Phaeacians  people  so 
devoid  of  brains  ?  "  So  might  some  one  have  justly 
spoken  who  was  not  yet  tipsy,  and  had  taken  but  a 
small  drink  of  wine  from  the  Corcyraean  bowl,  for 
the  Ithacan's  tale  was  all  his  own,  with  none  to  bear 
him  witness. 

27  I  will  now  relate  strange  deeds  done  of  late  in 
the  consulship  of  Juncus,4  beyond  the  walls  of  broil- 
ing Coptus ;  a  crime  of  the  common  herd,  worse  than 
any  crime  of  the  tragedians ;  for  though  you  turn 
over  all  the  tales  of  long-robed  Tragedy  from  the 
days  of  Pyrrha  onwards,  you  will  find  there  no  crime 
committed  by  an  entire  people.  But  hear  what  an 
example  of  ruthless  barbarism  has  been  displayed  in 
these  days  of  ours. 

33  Between  the  neighbouring  towns  of  Ombi  and 
Tentyra5  there  burns  an  ancient  and  long-cherished 
feud  and  undying  hatred,  whose  wounds  are  not  to 
be  healed.  Each  people  is  filled  with  fury  against 
the  other  because  each  hates  its  neighbours'  Gods, 
deeming  that  none  can  be  held  as  deities  save  its 

4  Aemilius  Juncus  was  consul  in  a.d.  127.     This  fixes  the 
earliest  date  for  this  Satire. 

6  Ombi  and   Tentyra   (now   Dendyra),    towns   in   Upper 
Egypt. 

29? 
02 


1VVENALIS   SATVRA   XV 

esse  deos  quos  ipse  colit.     sed  tempore  festo 

alterius  populi  rapienda  occasio  cunctis 

visa  inimicorum  primoribus  ac  ducibus,  ne  40 

laetum  hilaremque  diem,  ne  magnae  gaudia  cenae 

sentirent  positis  ad  templa  et  compita  mensis 

pervigilique  toro,  quem  nocte  ac  luce  iacentem 

Septimus  interdum  sol  invenit.     horrida  sane 

Aegyptos,  sed  luxuria,  quantum  ipse  notavi,  45 

barbava  famoso  non  cedit  turba  Canopo. 

adde  quod  et  facilis  victoria  de  madidis  et 

blaesis  atque  mero  titubantibus.     inde  virorum 

saltatus  nigro  tibicine,  qualiacumque 

unguenta  et  flores  multaeque  in  fronte  coronae  :      50 

hinc  ieiunum  odium,     sed  iurgia  prima  sonare 

incipiunt.     animis  ardentibus  haec  tuba  rixae  ; 

dein  clamore  pari  concurritur,  et  vice  teli 

saevit  nuda  manus.     paucae  sine  vulnere  make  ; 

vix  cuiquam  aut  nulli  toto  certamine  nasus  55 

integer,     aspiceres  iam  cuncta  per  agmina  vultus 

dimidios,  alias  facies  et  hiantia  ruptis 

*ssa  genis,  plenos  oculorum  sanguine  pugnos. 

ludere  se  credunt  ipsi  tamen  et  puerilis 

exercere  acies,  quod  nulla  cadavera  calcent.  60 

et  sane  quo  tot  rixantis  milia  turbae, 

si  vivunt  omnes  ?  ergo  acrior  impetus,  et  iam 

saxa  inclinatis  per  bumum  quaesita  lacertis 

incipiunt  torquere,  domestica  seditioni 

tela  :  nee  bunc  lapidem,  qualis  et  Turnus  et  Aiax,  65 

vel  quo  Tydides  percussit  pondere  coxam 


1  A  city  in  the  Delta,  near  the  W.  mouth  of  the  Nile. 
292 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XV 

own.  So  when  one  of  these  peoples  held  a  feast, 
the  chiefs  and  leaders  of  their  enemy  thought  good 
to  seize  the  occasion,  so  that  their  foe  might  not 
enjoy  a  glad  and  merry  day,  with  the  delight  of 
grand  banquets,  with  tables  set  out  at  every  temple 
and  every  crossway,  and  with  night-long  feasts,  and 
with  couches  spread  all  day  and  all  night,  and  some- 
times discovered  by  the  sun  upon  the  seventh  morn. 
Egypt,  doubtless,  is  a  rude  country ;  but  in  indul- 
gence, so  far  as  I  myself  have  noted,  its  barbarous 
rabble  yields  not  to  the  ill-famed  Canopus.1  Victory 
too  would  be  easy,  it  was  thought,  over  men  steeped 
in  wine,  stuttering  and  stumbling  in  their  cups.  On 
the  one  side  were  men  dancing  to  a  swarthy  piper, 
with  unguents,  such  as  they  were,  and  flowers  and 
chaplets  on  their  heads  ;  on  the  other  side,  a  ravenous 
hate.  First  come  loud  words,  as  preludes  to  the  fray  : 
these  serve  as  a  trumpet-call  to  their  hot  passions ; 
then  shout  answering  shout,  they  charge.  Bare  hands 
do  the  fell  work  of  war.  Scarce  a  cheek  is  left  with- 
out a  gash  ;  scarce  one  nose,  if  any,  comes  out  of  the 
battle  unbroken.  Through  all  the  ranks  might  be  seen 
battered  faces,  and  features  other  than  they  were ; 
bones  gaping  through  torn  cheeks,  and  fists  dripping 
with  blood  from  eyes.  Yet  the  combatants  deem 
themselves  at  play  and  waging  a  boyish  warfare  be- 
cause there  are  no  corpses  on  which  to  trample.  What 
avails  a  mob  of  so  many  thousand  brawlers  if  no  lives 
are  lost  ?  So  fiercer  and  fiercer  grows  the  fight ; 
they  now  search  the  ground  for  stones — the  natural 
weapons  of  civic  strife — and  hurl  them  with  bended 
arms  against  the  foe  :  not  such  stones  as  Turnus  or 
Ajax  flung,  or  like  that  with  which  the  son  of  Tydeus  2 

*  Diomedes. 

293 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA   XV 

Aeneae,  sed  quem  valeant  emittere  dextrae 

ill  is  dissiniiles  et  nostro  tempore  natae. 

nam  genus  hoc  vivo  iam  decrescebat  Homero ; 

terra  malos  homines  nunc  educat  atque  pusillos  ;     70 

ergo  deus  quicumque  aspexit,  ridet  et  odit. 

A  deverticulo  repetatur  fabula.     postquam 
subsidiis  aucti,  pars  altera  pvomere  ferrum 
audet  et  infestis  pugnam  instaurare  sagittis. 
terga  fugae  x  celeri  praestant  instantibus  Ombis      75 
qui  vicina  colunt  umbrosae  Tentyra  palmae. 
labitur  hie  quidam  nimia  formidine  cursum 
praecipitans  capiturque.    ast  ilium  in  plurima  sectum 
frusta  et  particulas,  ut  multis  mortuus  unus 
sufficeret,  totum  corrosis  ossibus  edit  80 

victrix  turba,  nee  ardenti  decoxit  aeno 
aut  veribus  :  longum  usque  adeo  tardumque  putavit 
expectare  tocos,  contenta  cadavere  crudo. 

Hie  gaudere  libet  quod  non  violaverit  ignem, 
quem  summa  caeli  raptum  de  parte  Prometheus      85 
donavit  terris  ;  elemento  gratulor,  et  te 
exultare  reor.     sed  qui  mordere  cadaver 
sustinuit,  nil  umquam  hac  carne  libentius  edit, 
nam  scelere  in  tanto  ne  quaeras  et  dubites  an 
prima  voluptatem  gula  senserit ;  ultimus  autem       90 
qui  stetit,  absumpto  iam  toto  corpore  ductis 
per  terrain  digitis  aliquid  de  sanguine  gustat. 

Vascones,  haec  fama  est,  alimentis  talibus  olim 
produxere  animas.     sed  res  diversa,  sed  illic 

1  fugae  POT  :  fuga  if».      The  correct  reading  instantibus 
Ombis  is  preserved  by  0  only. 


1  A  Spanish  tribe  N.  of  the  Ebro  ;  their  chief  town,  Cala- 
gurris,  was  reduced  by  Af ramus  in  B.C.  72,  after  the  fall  of 
Sertorius. 

294 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XV 

struck  Aeneas  on  the  hip,  but  such  as  may  be  cast 
by  hands  unlike  to  theirs,  and  born  in  these  days  of 
ours.  For  even  in  Homer's  day  the  race  of  man 
was  on  the  wane  ;  earth  now  produces  none  but 
weak  and  wicked  men  that  provoke  such  Gods  as 
see  them  to  laughter  and  to  loathing. 

72  To  come  back  from  our  digression  :  the  one  side, 
reinforced,  boldly  draws  the  sword  and  renews  the 
fight  with  showers  of  arrows ;  the  dwellers  in  the 
shady  palm-groves  of  neighbouring  Tentyra  turn 
their  backs  in  headlong  flight  before  the  Ombite 
charge.  Hereupon  one  of  them,  over-afraid  and 
hurrying,  tripped  and  was  caught ;  the  conquering 
host  cut  up  his  body  into  a  multitude  of  scraps  and 
morsels,  that  one  dead  man  might  suffice  for 
everyone,  and  devoured  it  bones  and  all.  There  was 
no  stewing  of  it  in  boiling  pots,  no  roasting  upon 
spits ;  so  slow  and  tedious  they  thought  it  to  wait 
for  a  fire,  that  they  contented  themselves  with  the 
corpse  uncooked  ! 

84  One  may  here  rejoice  that  no  outrage  was  done 
to  the  flame  that  Prometheus  stole  from  the  highest 
heavens,  and  gifted  to  the  earth.  I  felicitate  the 
element,  and  doubt  not  that  you  are  pleased  ;  but 
never  was  flesh  so  relished  as  by  those  who  endured 
to  put  that  carcase  between  their  teeth.  For  in  that 
act  of  gross  wickedness,  do  not  doubt  or  ask  whether 
it  was  only  the  first  gullet  that  enjoyed  its  meal ; 
for  when  the  whole  body  had  been  consumed,  those 
who  stood  furthest  away  actually  dragged  their 
fingers  along  the  ground  and  so  got  some  smack  of 
the  blood. 

93  The  Vascones,1  fame  tells  us,  once  prolonged 
their  lives  by  such  food  as  this  ;  but  their  case  was 

295 


IVVENALIS    SATVRA   XV 

fortunae  invidia  est  bellorumque  ultima,  casus         95 

extremi,  longae  dira  obsidionis  egestas  ; 

huius  enim,  quod  nunc  agitur,  miserabile  debet 

exemplum  esse  cibi,  sicut x  modo  dicta  mihi  gens  : 

post  omnis  herbas,  post  cuncta  animalia,  quidquid 

cogebat  vacui  ventris  furor,  hostibus  ipsis  100 

pallorem  ac  maciem  et  tenuis  miserantibus  artus, 

membra  aliena  fame  lacerabant,  esse  parati 

et    sua.     quisnam    hominum   veniam    dare    quisve 

deorum 
ventribus  2  abnueret  dira  atque  inmania  passis, 
et  quibus  illorum  poterant  ignoscere  manes,  105 

quorum  corporibus  vescebantur  ?     melius  nos 
Zenonis  praecepta  monent,  nee  enim  omnia,  quaedam3 
pro  vita  facienda  putant ;  sed  Cantab er  unde 
Stoicus,  antiqui  praesertim  aetate  Metelli  ? 
nunc  totus  Graias  nostrasque  habet  orbis  Athenas,  1 10 
Gallia  causidicos  docuit  facunda  Britannos, 
de  conducendo  loquitur  iam  rhetore  Thyle. 
nobilis  ille  tamen  populus  quern  diximus,  et  par 
virtute  atque  fide  sed  maior  clade  Zacynthos 
tale  quid  excusat :  Maeotide  saevior  ara  115 

Aegyptos  ;  quippe  ilia  nefandi  Taurica  sacri 
inventrix  homines  (ut  iam  quae  carmina  tradunt 

1  Housm.  reads  tibi  from  G  in  place  of  cibi  P^,  and  conj. 
si  cui  in  place  of  sicut  P^. 

2  So  Housm.,  after  Hadr. Vales.:  PU  have  urbibus,  and  so 
Biich.  and  Owen  :  viribus  \p. 

3  quaedam  AGLT  :  P  has  quiclam  :  so  Biich.  and  Housm. 

1  The  founder  of  the  Stoic  school. 

2  The  Vasconea  were  not  Cantabrians,  who  were  more  to 
the  W. 

3  Q.   Caecilius   Metellus  conducted   the  war  against  Ser- 
torius,  B.C.  79-72. 

296 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XV 

different.  Unkindly  fortune  had  brought  on  them 
the  last  dire  extremity  of  war,  the  famine  of  a  long 
siege.  In  a  plight  like  that  of  the  people  just  named, 
resorting  to  such  food  deserves  our  pity,  inasmuch 
as  not  till  they  had  consumed  every  herb,  every  living 
thing,  and  everything  else  to  which  the  pangs  of  an 
empty  belly  drove  them — not  till  their  very  enemies 
pitied  their  pale,  lean  and  wasted  limbs — did  hunger 
make  them  tear  the  limbs  of  other  men,  being  ready 
to  feed  even  upon  their  own.  What  man,  what  God, 
would  withhold  a  pardon  from  bellies  which  had  suf- 
fered such  dire  straits,  and  which  might  look  to  be 
forgiven  by  the  Manes  of  those  whose  bodies  they 
were  devouring  ?  To  us,  indeed,  Zeno T  gives  better 
teaching,  for  he  permits  some  things,  though  not 
indeed  all  things,  to  be  done  for  the  saving  of  life ; 
but  how  could  a  Cantabrian  2  be  a  Stoic,  and  that  too 
in  the  days  of  old  Metellus?3  To-day  the  whole 
world  has  its  Greek  and  its  Roman  Athens  ;  eloquent 
Gaul  has  trained  the  pleaders  of  Britain,  and  distant 
Thule  4  talks  of  hiring  a  rhetorician.  Yet  the  people 
I  have  named  were  a  noble  people ;  and  the  people 
of  Zacynthos,5  their  equals  in  bravery  and  honour, 
their  more  than  equals  in  calamity,  offer  a  like  ex- 
cuse. But  Egypt  is  more  savage  than  the  Maeotid  6 
altar;  for  if  we  may  hold  the  poet's  tales  as  time, 
the  foundress  of  that  accursed  Tauric  rite  does  but 

4  The  most  distant  land  or  island  to  the  N.  ;  possibly 
Shetland  or  Iceland. 

5  A  poetic  name  for  the  Spanish  town  of  Saguntum,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  founded  from  Zacynthus ;  taken  by 
Hannibal  B.C.  218. 

6  The  palus  Maeotis  was  the  sea  of  Azov :  strangers  were 
there  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  the  Tauric  {i.e.  Crimean) 
Artemis. 

297 


IVVENALIS   SATVRA  XV 

digna  fide  credas)  tantum  immolat,  ulterius  nil 

aut  gravius  cultro  timet  hostia.     quis  modo  casus 

inpulit  hos  ?  quae  tanta  fames  infestaque  vallo      120 

arma  coegerunt  tarn  detestabile  monstrum 

audere  ?     anne  aliam  terra  Memphitide  sicca 

invidiam  facerent  nolenti  surgere  Nilo  ? 

qua  nee  terribiles  Cimbri  nee  Brittones  umquam 

Sauromataeque  truces  aut  inmanes  Agathyrsi,       125 

hac  saevit  rabie  inbelle  et  inutile  vulgus, 

parvula  fictilibus  solitum  dare  vela  phaselis 

et  brevibus  pictae  remis  incumbere  testae. 

nee  poenam  sceleri  invenies  nee  digna  parabis 

supplicia  his  populis,  in  quorum  mente  pares  sunt  130 

et  similes  ira  atque  fames,     mollissima  corda 

humane-  generi  dare  se  natura  fatetur, 

quae  lacrimas  dedit ;  haec  nostri  pars  optima  sensus. 

plorare  ergo  iubet  causam  dicentis  amici 

squaloremque  rei,  pupillum  ad  iura  vocantem         135 

circumscriptorein,  cuius  manantia  fletu 

ora  puellares  faciunt  incerta  capilli. 

naturae  imperio  gemimus,  cum  funus  adultae 

virginis  occurrit  vel  terra  clauditur  infans 

et  minor  igne  rogi.  quis  enim  bonus  et  face  dignus  140 

arcana,  qualem  Cereris  vult  esse  sacerdos, 

ulla  aliena  sibi  credit  mala  ?    separat  hoc  nos 

a  grege  mutorum,  atque  ideo  venerabile  soli 

sortiti  ingenium  divinorumque  capaces 

atque  exercendis  pariendisque  artibus  apti  145 

sensum  a  caelesti  demissum  traximus  arce, 

cuius  egent  prona  et  terram  spectantia.     mundi 


1  An   uncertain  tribe,  placed   by  Herodotus  in  Transyl- 
vania. .   . 
3  i.e.  worthy  of  being  initiated  in  the  Eleusinian  mysteries. 

298 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XV 

slay  her  victims ;  they  have  nought  further  or  more 
terrible  than  the  knife  to  fear.  But  what  calamity 
drove  these  Egyptians  to  the  deed  ?  What  extremity 
of  hunger,  what  beleaguering  army,  compelled  them 
to  so  monstrous  and  infamous  a  crime  ?  Were  the 
land  of  Memphis  to  run  dry,  could  they  do  aught 
else  than  this  to  shame  the  Nile  for  being;  loth  to 
rise  ?  No  dread  Cimbrians  or  Britons,  no  savage 
Scythians  or  monstrous  Agathyrsians,1  ever  raged 
so  furiously  as  this  unwarlike  and  worthless  rabble 
that  hoists  tiny  sails  on  crockery  ships,  and  plies 
puny  oars  on  boats  of  painted  earthenware  !  No 
penalty  can  you  devise  for  such  a  crime,  no  fit  pun- 
ishment for  a  people  in  whose  minds  rage  and 
hunger  are  like  and  equal  things.  When  Nature 
gave  tears  to  man,  she  proclaimed  that  he  was 
tender-hearted  ;  and  tenderness  is  the  best  quality 
in  man.  She  therefore  bids  us  weep  for  the  misery 
of  a  friend  upon  his  trial,  or  when  a  ward  whose 
streaming  cheeks  and  girlish  locks  raise  a  doubt 
as  to  his  sex  brings  a  defrauder  into  court.  It  is 
at  Nature's  behest  that  we  weep  when  we  meet  the 
bier  of  a  full-grown  maiden,  or  when  the  earth  closes 
over  a  babe  too  young  for  the  funeral  pyre.  For  what 
good  man,  what  man  worthy  of  the  mystic  torch,2 
and  such  as  the  priest  of  Ceres  would  wish  him  to 
be,  believes  that  any  human  woes  concern  him  not  ? 
It  is  this  that  separates  us  from  the  dumb  herd  ; 
and  it  is  for  this  that  we  alone  have  had  allotted  to 
us  a  nature  worthy  of  reverence,  capable  of  divine 
things,  fit  to  acquire  and  practise  the  arts  of  life, 
and  that  we  have  drawn  from  on  high  that  gift 
of  feeling  which  is  lacking  to  the  beasts  that 
grovel  with  eyes  upon  the  ground.     To  them  in  the 

299 


IVVENALIS    SATVRA   XV 

principio  indulsit  communis  conditor  illis 
tantum  animas,  nobis  animum  quoque,  mntuus 

ut  nos 
adfectus  petere  auxilium  et  praestare  iuberet,        150 
dispersos  trahere  in  populum,  migrare  vetusto 
de  nemore  et  proavis  habitatas  linquere  silvas, 
aedificare  domos,  laribus  coniungere  nostris 
tectum  aliud,  tutos  vicino  limine  x  somnos 
ut  collata  daret  fiducia,  protegere  armis  155 

lapsum  aut  ingenti  nutantem  vulnere  civem, 
communi  dare  signa  tuba,  defendier  isdem 
turribus  atque  una  portarum  clave  teneri. 

Sed  iam  serpentum  maior  concordia,  parcit 
cognatis  maculis  similis  fera ;  quando  leoni  160 

fortior  eripuit  vitam  leo  ?  quo  nemore  uraquam 
expiravit  aper  maioris  dentibus  apri  ? 
Indica  tigris  agit  rabida  cum  tigride  pacem 
perpetuam,  saevis  inter  se  convenit  ursis. 
ast  homini  ferrum  letale  incude  nefanda  165 

produxisse  parum  est,  cum  rastra  et  sarcula  tantum 
adsueti  coquere  et  man-is  ac  vomere  lassi 
nescierint  primi  gladios  extendere  fabri, 
aspicimus  populos  quorum  non  sufficit  irae 
occidisse  aliquem,  sed  pectora  bracchia  voltum      170 
crediderint  genus  esse  cibi.     quid  diceret  ergo 
vel  quo  non  fugeret,  si  nunc  haec  monstra  videret 
Pythagoras,  cunctis  animalibus  abstinuit  qui 
tamquam   homine    et  ventri  indulsit  non  omne 
legumen  ? 

1  limine  4>  '•  limite  PA. 
300 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XV 

beginning  of  the  world  our  common  maker  gave 
only  life ;  to  us  he  gave  souls  as  well,  that  fellow- 
feeling  might  bid  us  ask  or  proffer  aid,  gather 
scattered  dwellei's  into  a  people,  desert  the  primeval 
groves  and  woods  inhabited  by  our  forefathers,  build 
houses  for  ourselves,  with  others  adjacent  to  our 
own,  that  a  neighbour's  threshold,  from  the  confi- 
dence that  comes  of  union,  might  give  us  peaceful 
slumbers ;  shield  with  arms  a  fallen  citizen,  or  one 
staggering  from  a  grievous  wound,  give  battle  signals 
by  a  common  trumpet,  and  seek  protection  inside 
the  same  city  walls,  and  behind  gates  fastened  by 
a  single  key. 

109  But  in  these  days  there  is  more  amity  among 
serpents  than  among  men ;  wild  beasts  are  merciful 
to  beasts  spotted  like  themselves.  When  did  the 
stronger  lion  ever  take  the  life  of  the  weaker  ?  In 
what  wood  did  a  boar  ever  breathe  his  last  under 
the  tusks  of  a  boar  bigger  than  himself  ?  The  fierce 
tigress  of  India  dwells  in  perpetual  peace  with  her 
fellow  ;  bears  live  in  harmony  with  bears.  But  man 
finds  it  all  too  little  to  have  forged  the  deadly  blade 
on  an  impious  anvil ;  for  whereas  the  first  artificers 
only  wearied  themselves  with  forging  hoes  and  har- 
rows, spades  and  ploughshares,  not  knowing  how  to 
beat  out  swords,  we  now  behold  a  people  whose 
wrath  is  not  assuaged  by  slaying  someone,  but  who 
deem  that  a  man's  breast,  arms,  and  face  afford  a 
kind  of  food.  What  would  Pythagoras  say,  or  to 
what  place  would  he  not  flee,  if  he  beheld  these 
horrors  of  to-day, — he  who  refrained  from  every 
living  creature  as  if  it  were  human,  and  would  not 
indulge  his  belly  with  every  kind  of  vegetable  ? 


301 


IVVENALIS  SATVRA  XVI 


SATVRA  XVI 

Quis  numerare  queat  felicis  praemia,  Galli, 
militiae  ?  nam  si  subeuntur  prospera  castra, 
me  pavidum  excipiat  tironem  porta  secundo 
sidere.     plus*etenim  fati  valet  hora  benigni 
quam  si  nos  Veneris  commendet  epistula  Marti         5 
et  Samia  genetrix  quae  delectatur  harena. 

Commoda  tractemus  primum  communia,  quorum 
haut  minimum  illud  erit,  ne  te  pulsare  togatus 
audeatj  immo  etsi  pulsetur,  dissimulet  nee 
audeat  excussos  praetori  ostendere  dentes  10 

et  nigram  in  facie  tumidis  livoribus  offam 
atque  oculum  medico  nil  promittente  relictum. 
Bardaicus  iudex  datur  haec  punire  volenti 
calceus  et  grandes  magna  ad  subsellia  surae 
legibus  antiquis  castrorum  et  more  Camilli  15 

servato,  miles  ne  vallum  litiget  extra 
et  procul  a  signis.     "  iustissima  centurionum 
cognitio  est  igitur 1  de  milite,  nee  mihi  derit 
ultio,  si  iustae  defertur  causa  querellae." 
tota  cohors  tamen  est  inimica,  omnesque  manipli    20 
consensu  magno  efficiunt  curabilis  ut  sit 
vindicta  et  gravior  quam  2  iniuria.    dignum  erit  ergo 
declamatoris  mulino  corde  Vagelli, 
cum  duo  crura  habeas,  offendere  tot  caligas,  tot 

1  For  the  iyitar  of  P>|/  Housm.  reads  inquis. 

2  quam  Pi^  :  Biicli.  (1910)  conj.  turn. 


Juno. 


302 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XVI 

SATIRE  XVI 

The  Immunities  of  the  Military 

Who  can  count  up,  Gallius,  all  the  prizes  ol 
prosperous  soldiering  ?  I  would  myself  pray  to  be  a 
trembling  recruit  if  I  could  but  enter  a  favoured 
camp  under  a  lucky  star  :  for  one  moment  of  be- 
nignant fate  is  of  more  avail  than  a  letter  of  com- 
mendation to  Mars  from  Venus,  or  from  his  mother,1 
who  delights  in  the  sandy  shore  of  Samos. 

7  Let  us  first  consider  the  benefits  common  to  all 
soldiers,  of  which  not  the  least  is  this,  that  no 
civilian  will  dare  to  thrash  you;  if  thrashed  him- 
self, he  must  hold  his  tongue,  and  not  venture 
to  exhibit  to  the  Praetor  the  teeth  that  have  been 
knocked  out,  or  the  black  and  blue  lumps  upon  his 
face,  or  the  one  eye  left  which  the  doctor  holds  out  no 
hope  of  saving.  If  he  seek  redress,  he  has  appointed 
for  him  as  judge  a  hob-nailed  centm-ion  with  a  row 
of  jurors  with  brawny  calves  sitting  before  a  big 
bench.  For  the  old  camp  law  and  the  rule  of 
Camillus  still  holds  good  which  forbids  a  soldier  to 
attend  court  outside  the  camp,  and  at  a  distance 
from  the  standards.  "  Most  right  and  proper  it  is," 
you  say,  "  that  a  centurion  should  pass  sentence  on 
a  soldier ;  nor  shall  I  fail  of  satisfaction  if  I  make 
good  my  cass."  But  then  the  whole  cohort  will  be 
your  enemies  ;  all  the  maniples  will  agree  as  one  man 
in  applying  a  cure  to  the  redress  you  have  received  by 
giving  you  a  thrashing  which  shall  be  worse  than  the 
first.  So,  as  you  possess  a  pair  of  legs,  you  must  have 
a  mulish  brain  worthy  of  the  eloquent  Vagellius  to 
provoke  so  many  jack-boots,  and  all  those  thousands 

3°3 


1VVENALIS   SATVRA   XVI 

milia  clavorum.     quis  tarn  procul  absit  ab  urbe        25 

praeterea,  quis  tarn  Pylades,  molem  aggeris  ultra 

ut  veniat?  lacrimae  siccentur  protinus,  et  se 

excusaturos  non  sollicitemus  amicos. 

"da  testem  "  iudex  cum  dixerit,  audeat  ille 

nescio  quis,  pugnos  qui  vidit,  dicere  "  vidi,"  30 

et  credam  dignum  barba  dignumque  capillis  . 

maiorum.     citius  falsum  producere  testem 

contra  paganum  possis  quam  vera  loquentem 

contra  fortunam  armati  contraque  pudorem. 

Praemia  nunc  alia  atque  alia  emolumenta  note- 
mus  3o 

sacramentorum.     convallem  ruris  aviti 
improbus  aut  campum  mibi  si  vicinus  ademit 
'  et  sacrum  effodit  medio  de  limite  saxum, 
quod  mea  cum  patulo  coluit  puis  annua  libo, 
debitor  aut  sumptos  pergit  non  reddere  nummos     40 
vana  supervacui  dicens  chirograpba  ligni, 
expectandus  erit  qui  lites  inchoet  annus 
totius  populi.     sed  tunc  quoque  mille  ferenda 
taedia,  mille  morae  ;  totiens  subsellia  tantum 
stei-nuntur,  iam  facundo  ponente  lacernas  45 

Caedicio  et  Fusco  iam  micturiente  parati 
digredimur,  lentaque  fori  pugnamus  harena. 
ast  illis  quos  arma  tegunt  et  balteus  ambit, 
quod  placitum  est  ipsis  praestatur  tempus  agendi 
nee  res  atteritur  longo  sufflamine  litis.  50 

Solis  praeterea  testandi  militibus  ius 
vivo  patre  datur.     nam  quae  sunt  parta  labore 


1  The  inseparable  friend  of  Orestes. 
3°4 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE  XVI 

of  hobnails.  And  besides  who  would  venture  so  far 
from  the  city  ?  Who  would  be  such  a  Pylades  l  as 
to  go  inside  the  rampart  ?  Better  dry  your  eyes  at 
once,  and  not  importune  friends  who  will  but  make 
excuses.  When  the  judge  has  called  for  witnesses, 
let  the  man,  whoever  he  be,  who  saw  the  assault 
dare  to  say,  "  I  saw  it,"  and  I  will  deem  him  worthy 
of  the  beard  and  long  hair  of  our  forefathers.  Sooner 
will  you  find  a  false  witness  against  a  civilian  than 
one  who  will  tell  the  truth  against  the  interest  and 
the  honour  of  a  soldier. 

35  And  now  let  us  note  other  profits  and  per- 
quisites of  the  service.  If  some  rascally  neighbour 
have  filched  from  me  a  dell  or  a  field  of  my  ancestral 
estate,  and  have  dug  up,  from  the  mid  point  of  my 
boundary,  the  hallowed  stone  which  I  have  honoured 
every  year  with  an  offering  of  flat  cake  and  porridge ; 
or  if  a  debtor  refuses  to  repay  the  money  that  he 
has  borrowed,  declaring  that  the  signatures  are  false, 
and  the  document  null  and  void  :  I  shall  have  to  wait 
for  the  time  of  year  when  the  whole  world  begin 
their  suits,  and  even  then  there  will  be  a  thousand 
wearisome  delays.  So  often  does  it  happen  that  when 
only  the  benches  have  been  set  out — when  the  elo- 
quent Caecilius  is  taking  off  his  cloak,  and  Fuscus 
has  gone  out  for  a  moment — though  everything  is 
ready,  we  disperse,  and  fight  our  battle  after  the 
dilatory  fashion  of  the  courts.  But  the  gentlemen 
who  are  armed  and  belted  have  their  cases  set  down 
for  whatever  time  they  please  ;  nor  is  their  substance 
worn  away  by  the  slow  drag-chain  of  the  law. 

51  Soldiers  alone,  again,  have  the  right  to  make 
their  wills  during  their  fathers'  lifetime  ;  for  the 
law  ordains  that  money  earned  in  military  service 

S°5 


IVVENALIS  SATVRA  XVI 

militiae,  placuit  non  esse  in  corpore  census, 
omne  tenet  cuius  regimen  pater,    ergo  Coranum 
signorum  comitem  castrorumque  aera  merentem      55 
quamvis  iam  tremulus  captat  pater ;  hunc  favor 

aequus 
provehit  et  pulchro  reddit  sua  dona  labori. 
ipsius  certe  ducis  hoc  referre  videtur 
ut  qui  fortis  erit,  sit  felicissimus  idem, 
ut  laeti  phaieris  omnes  et  torquibus,  omnes  60 


306 


JUVENAL,  SATIRE   XVI 

is  not  to  be  included  in  the  property  which  is  in 
the  father's  sole  control.  This  is  why  Coranus,  who 
follows  the  standards  and  earns  soldier's  pay,  is 
courted  by  his  own  father,  though  now  tottering 
from  old  age.  The  son  receives  the  advancement 
that  is  his  due,  and  reaps  the  recompense  for  his 
own  good  services.  And  indeed  it  is  the  interest 
of  the  General  that  the  most  brave  should  also  be 
the  most  fortunate,  and  that  all  should  have  medals 
and  necklets  to  be  proud  of. 

The  Satire  breaks  off  here. 


307 
x  2 


THE   SATIRES  OF  PERSIUS 


PERSI    SATVRAE 

PROLOGVS 

Nec  fonte  labra  proiui  caballino 
nee  in  bicipiti  somniasse  Parnaso 
memini,  ut  repente  sic  poeta  prodirem. 
Heliconidasque  pallidamque  Pivenen 
illis  remittor  quorum  imagines  lambunt  5 

hederae  sequaces  :  ipse  semipaganus 
ad  sacra  vatum  carmen  adfero  nostrum, 
quis  expedivit  psittaco  suum  chaere, 
picamque  docuit  verba  nostra  conari  ? 
magister  artis  ingenique  largitor  10 

venter,  negatas  artifex  sequi  voces ; 
quod  si  dolosi  spes  refulserit  nummi, 
corvos  poetas  et  poetridas  picas 
cantare  credas  Pegaseium  nectar. 

1  The  inspiring  spring  Hippocrene,  struck  out  by  the 
hoof  of  Pegasus,  on  the  top  of  Mt.  Helicon. 

2  i.e.  the  Muses. 

3  Pirene  also  was  an  inspiring  spring  near  Corinth,  called 
' '  pale "  because  poets  were  supposed  to  become  pale  from 
study. 


3^0 


THE  SATIRES    OF    PERSIUS 


THE    PROLOGUE 

I  never  soused  my  lips  in  the  Nag's  Spring;1 
never,  that  I  can  remember,  did  I  dream  on  the 
two-topped  Parnasus,  that  I  should  thus  come  forth 
suddenly  as  a  poet.  The  maidens2  of  Mount 
Helicon,  and  the  blanching  waters  of  Pirene,3  I 
give  up  to  the  gentlemen  round  whose  busts  the 
clinging  ivy  4  twines  ;  it  is  but  as  a  half-member  5  of 
the  community  that  I  bring  my  lay  to  the  holy  feast 
of  the  bards.  Who  made  it  so  easy  for  the  parrot 
to  chirp  his  "good  morrow"?6  Who  taught  the 
magpie  to  ape  the  language  of  man  ?  It  was  that 
master  of  the  arts,  that  dispenser  of  genius,  the 
Belly,  who  has  a  rare  skill  in  getting  at  words  which 
are  not  his  own.  If  only  the  enticing  hope  of  money 
were  to  flash  upon  them,  you  would  believe  that 
raven  poets  and  magpie  poetesses  were  singing  the 
pure  nectar  of  the  muses. 

4  The  busts  of  poets  were  crowned  with  chaplets  of  ivy  : 
doctarum  hederae  praemia  frontium,  Hor.  Od.  I.  i.  29. 

5  Referring  to  the  feast  of  the  Paganalia  common  to  all 
pagani,  i.e.  members  of  the  village  community  (pagus). 
Persius  calls  himself  a  half-outsider  as  compared  with  pro- 
fessional poets.  6  i.e  the  Greek  xa~lPe- 


3'1 


SUMMARY  OF  SATIRE   I 


This  whole  satire  is  an  attack  on  the  corruption  of 
literature  and  literary  taste  in  Rome,  as  a  sign  and 
accompaniment  of  a  similar  corruption  in  morals. 

The  poem  takes  the  form  of  a  dialogue  between 
Persius  and  a  Friend.  Persius  recites  a  line  (possibly 
from  Lucilius)  which  looks  like  the  beginning  of  a 
poem.  "  Who  will  read  stuff  like  that  ?  "  asks  the 
Friend.  "Well/'  says  Persius,  "what  does  that  mat- 
ter !  The  opinion  of  thick-headed  Rome  isn't  worth 
a  d — n !  If  only  I  could  say  what  I  think  !  But 
when  I  look  at  our  gloomy  way  of  living,  and  our 
affectation  of  morality,  I  feel  that  I  must  have  my 
laugh  out  (1-12).  Just  look  at  the  foppery  and 
ostentation  of  our  public  recitations,  and  the  licen- 
tious character  of  the  things  recited  "  (13-23). 

F.  "  But  surely  you  must  allow  our  young  poets  to 
show  their  learning  and  give  their  genius  a  vent?" 
(24-25). 

P.  "  Learning,  indeed !  as  if  knowledge  were  of  no 
use  unless  other  people  know  that  you  possess  it !  " 
(26-27). 

F.  "But  you  cannot  deny  the  charm  of  being 
praised  and  of  hearing  people  say  'That's  the 
man  ! '  "  (28-30). 

P.  "  And  what  kind  of  praise  do  they  win  ?  Listen 
to  the  mawkish  stuff  poured  forth  at  dinner  tables, 
and  the  applause  given  to  it  by  the  well-filled  guests. 
How  grand  and  soul-sufficing !  "  (30-40). 

312 


SUMMARY   OF   SATIRE   I 

F.  "  You  are  very  nasty  with  your  gibes.  Do  you 
suppose  that  any  one  is  so  indifferent  to  fame  that 
he  would  not  care  to  be  ranked  among  the  immor- 
tals ?  "  (40-43). 

P.  "  Certainly  not.  I  value  praise  justly  bestowed 
as  much  as  any  man  ;  but  I  decline  to  accept  the  ver- 
dict of  guests  whose  favour  has  been  secured  by  gifts 
of  old  clothing  and  good  viands.  You  say  you  want 
the  truth  ?  then  let  me  tell  it  you  :  you  are  a  mere 
twaddler,  happy  only  in  this  that,  unlike  Janus,  you 
cannot  see  the  gibes  made  at  you  behind  your 
back  "  (44-62). 

F.  "  Anyhow  the  public  are  enchanted.  Never, 
they  say,  did  poets  write  more  smoothly  and  correctly, 
or  handle  great  themes  more  nobly"  (63-68). 

P.  "  Yes,  indeed  !  To-day  we  find  heroic  themes 
attempted  by  men  who  cannot  describe  the  simplest 
scenes  of  country  life  Avithout  committing  absurdities. 
Others  have  a  mania  for  archaisms ;  and  what  can 
be  more  artificial  than  our  rhetoric?  An  advocate 
cannot  defend  a  man  on  his  trial  for  some  crime 
without  using  all  the  embellishments  of  the  schools ! 
He  is  like  the  shipwrecked  mariner  who  appeals  to 
you  by  a  song"  (69-91). 

F.  "  But  you  will  at  least  grant  that  our  modern 
Muse  has  grace  and  polish  ?  "  (92). 

P.  "  Grace  and  polish  indeed !  Let  me  quote 
some  instances  of  your  modern  polish  .  . .  What  would 
Virgil  have  said  of  turgid  and  frothy  stuff  like  that  ? 
Now  please  give  me  some  instances  of  the  tender 
languishing  style  "  (93-98). 

(Then  follow  four  lines  of  furious  magniloquent 
bombast,  quoted  admiringly  by  P.'s  interlocutor 
(99-102).) 

3J3 


SUMMARY   OF   SATIRE   I 

P.  "Whew!  what  nerveless  sputtering  trash! 
Not  one  sign  there  of  real  honest  work  !  " 
(103-106). 

F.  "  But  why  vex  delicate  ears  with  biting  truths 
like  these  ?  See  that  the  doors  of  your  great  friends 
are  not  closed  to  you  after  this.  Beware  of  the 
dog!"  (107-110). 

P.  "Well!  Well!  Have  your  way.  Put  up  a 
notice — '  No  nuisance  here/  and  I'll  be  off.  But  Lu- 
cilius  had  his  say  out,  sparing  no  man  ;  Horace  spoke 
out  his  mind  with  well-spiced  pleasantry  ;  and  am  I  to 
keep  my  mouth  shut  ?  am  I  not  to  divulge  my  secret 
to  any  one,  not  even  to  a  ditch  ?  Nay,  here  is  a  ditch, 
and  I  will  dig  it  in:  f  All  the  world  are  fools.'  This 
little  secret  joke  of  mine  I  will  not  sell  you  for  all 
your  Iliads! "(110-1 23). 

"  No :  let  me  have  for  hearers  all  you  that  have 
drawn  an  inspiring  breath  from  Cratinus,  and  Eupolis, 
and  the  Grand  Old  Man  ;  I  care  not  for  the  fry 
that  love  to  vent  their  wit  upon  the  slippers  of  the 
Greeks,  nor  for  the  puffed-up  local  magnate  who 
jeers  at  a  one-eyed  man,  nor  for  the  man  who  flouts 
philosophers  and  thinks  it  a  fine  joke  to  see  a  saucy 
wench  pluck  a  cynic  by  the  beard.  Let  these  enjoy 
the  pleasures  they  deserve  !  "  (123-134). 

The  first  satire  of  Persius  seems  to  have  furnished 
a  pattern  for  the  first  satire  of  Juvenal.  In  each 
case  the  poet  begins  by  an  attack  on  the  character 
of  his  own  age,  Persius  laying  stress  upon  the  cor- 
ruption of  literature,  Juvenal  upon  that  of  morals  as 
a  whole.  In  each  case  a  friend  warns  the  poet  of 
the  dangers  of  such  an  attack.  Both  poets  justify 
themselves  by  the  example  of  Lucilius,  and  his  free- 

3'4 


SUMMARY   OF   SATIRE 

spoken  attacks  upon  his  contemporaries.  Persius 
rejects  all  appeal  to  the  depraved  opinion  of  his  own 
time,  and  asks  for  readers  who  have  caught  the  spirit 
of  the  masters  of  the  old  Greek  comedy ;  Juvenal 
promises  to  spare  the  living  and  to  confine  his 
attacks  to  the  dead. 


3*5 


SATVRA   I 

"0  curas  hominum,  o  quantum  est  in  rebus  inane  ! " 
"quis  leget  haec  ?  "     "min  tu  istud  ais  ?  nemo  her- 

cule."     (fnemo?" 
"vel    duo    vel    nemo.''      "turpe    et    miserabile!" 

"  quare  ? 
ne  mihi  Polydamas  et  Troiades  Labeonem 
praetulerint  ?  nugae.     non,  si  quid  turbida  Roma     5 
elevet,  accedas  examenque  improbum  in  ilia 
castiges  trutina,  nee  te  quaesiveris  extra, 
nam  Romae  l  quis  non — ah,  si  fas  dicere — sed  fas 
tunc  cum  ad  canitiem  et  nostrum  istud  vivere2  triste 
aspexi  ac  nucibus  facimus  quaecumque  relictis,         10 
cum  sapimus  patruos  ;  tunc  tunc  ignoscite  ;  (nolo  : 
quid  faciam  ?  sed  sum  petulanti  splene)  cachinno. 

1  The  MSS.  read  Romae  est  or  Romaest  for  Romae,  and 
ae  for  a  or  ah. 

2  The  use  of  the  Infinitive  as  a  Noun  is  a  special  charac- 
teristic of  Persius.  So  scire  tuum  (1.  27),  ridere  meum  (1.  122), 
pap-pare  minutum  (iii.  17),  etc. 

1  Polydamas  is  from  Homer  (7Z.  xxii.  104-5).  Polydamas 
and  the  high-born  Roman  ladies  are  supposed  to  represent 
the  opinions  of  the  respectable  Mrs.  Grundys  of  the  day. 
Attius  Labeo  was  a  poor  poet  of  the  time,  said  to  have  trans- 
lated Homer. 

316 


SATIRE  I 

P.  "  O    the  vanity  of  mankind  !     How  vast  the 
void  in  human  affairs  !  " 

F.  "  Who  will  read  stuff  like  that  ?  " 

P.  "  Is  it  to  me  you  are  speaking  ?     Not  a  soul, 
by  Hercules." 

F.  "What?  nobody?" 

P.  "  One  or  two  perhaps  or  nobody." 

F.  "  What  a  poor  and  lamentable  result  !  " 

P.  « Why  that  ?  Are  you  afraid  that  Polydamas 
and  his  Trojan  ladies  1  will  put  Labeo  above  me  ? 
Stuff  and  nonsense  !  And  if  thick-headed  Rome 
does  disparage  anything,  don't  you  go  and  put 
right  the  tongue  in  that  false  balance  of  theirs ; 
look  to  no  one  outside  yourself.  For  who  is  there 
in  Rome  who  is  not  2 — oh,  if  only  I  might  say  my 
secret! — and  yet  say  it  I  must,  when  I  look  at 
these  gray  heads  of  ours,  and  our  gloomy  ways  of 
living,  and  indeed  everything  that  we  have  been 
doing  since  the  days  when  we  gave  up  our  marbles, 
and  put  on  the  wise  airs  of  uncles.  So  please 
forgive  me  !  I  would  rather  not  say  it — but  what 
else  can  I  do  ? — I  have  a  wayward  wit  and  must 
have  my  laugh  out. 

2  The  secret  is  that  ever}'  one  is  an  ass,  see  1.  121.  For 
the  passage  8-12  I  follow  the  punctuation  and  explanation 
given  by  Professor  Housman  {C.Q.  Jan.  1913).  Cachinno  is  a 
verb,  "I  laugh";  it  has  been  commonly  taken  as  a  substan- 
tive ("  a  laugher  "),  but  for  this  there  is  no  authority. 

317 


PERSI  SATVRA  I 

"  Scribimus  inclusi,  numeros  ille,  hie  pede  liber, 
grande  aliquid,  quod  pulmo  animae  praelargus  anhelet. 
scilicet  haec  populo  pexusque  togaque  recenti  15 

et  natalicia  tandem  cum  sardonyche  albus 
sede  leges  celsa,  liquido  cum  plasmate  guttur 
mobile  conlueris,  patranti  fractus  ocello. 
tunc  neque  more  probo  videas  nee  voce  serena 
ingentis  trepidare  Titos,  cum  carmina  lumbum         20 
intrant  et  tremulo  scalpuntur  ubi  intima  versu. 
tun,  vetule,  auriculis  alienis  colligis  escas, 
auriculis,1  quibus  et  dicas  cute  perditus  f  ohe '  ?  " 
"  quo  didicisse,  nisi  hoc  fermentum  et  quae  semel  intus 
innata  est  rupto  iecore  exierit  caprificus?  25 

en  pallor  seniumque  !  "  "  o  mores,  usque  adeone 
scire  tuum  nihil  est,  nisi  te  scire  hoc  sciat  alter  ?  " 
"at  pulchrum  est  digito  monstrari  et  dicier  <hic  est' ; 
ten  cirratorum  centum  dictata  fuisse 
pro  nihilo  pendes  ?  "  2  "  ecce  inter  pocula  quaerunt    30 

1  Professor  Housman  adopts  Madvig's  conjecture  of 
articulis  for  auriculis,  and  translates  "What?  catering  at 
your  age  for  others'  ears  with  cates  which  yon,  disabled  with 
gout  and  dropsy,  must  forgo?"  (Classical  Quarterly,  Jan. 
1913,  p.  14.  Subsequent  references  to  Professor  Housman 
are  to  be  found  in  this  article.)  2  pendas  aP2. 


1  Titos  for  Titienses,  one  of  the  three  original  Roman 
tribes,  ironically  applied  to  those  who  prided  themselves  on 
their  ancient  Roman  descent.  Similarly  used  are  Troiades 
in  1.  4,  Bomulidae,  1.  31,  and  Bhamnes  in  Hor.  A. P.  342. 

2  The  ferment  of  poetic  inspiration  longing  for  a  vent  is 

3l8 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   I 

13  -.<  We  shut  ourselves  up  and  write  something 
grand — one  in  verse,  one  in  prose— something  that 
will  take  a  vast  amount  of  breath  to  pant  out.  This 
stuff  you  will  some  day  read  aloud  to  the  public, 
having  first  lubricated  your  throat  with  an  emollient 
wash ;  you  will  take  your  seat  on  a  high  chair,  well 
combed,  in  a  new  white  robe,  and  with  a  rakish  leer 
in  your  eye,  not  forgetting  a  birthday  sardonyx  gem 
on  your  finger.  Thereupon,  as  the  thrilling  strains 
make  their  way  into  the  loins,  and  tickle  the  inward 
parts,  you  may  see  the  burly  sons  of  Rome,1  quiver- 
ing in  no  seemly  fashion,  and  uttering  no  seemly 
words.  What,  you  old  reprobate?  Do  you  cater 
for  other  people's  wanton  ears  ? — ears  to  which, 
however  hardened  your  hide,  you  might  fain  cry 
'hold,  enough!'  " 

F.  "But  what  avail  study  and  learning  if  the 
yeast,  and  the  Avild  fig-tree2  which  has  sprung  up 
within,  are  never  to  break  through  the  bosom  and 
come  forth  ?    See  our  pallid  cheeks  and  aged  looks  !  "  3 

P.  "  Good  heavens  !  Is  all  your  knowledge  to 
go  so  utterly  for  nothing  unless  other  people  know 
that  you  possess  it  ?  " 

F.  "  O  but  it  is  a  fine  thing  to  have  a  finger  pointed 
at  one,  and  to  hear  people  say,  f  That's  the  man '  ' 
Would  you  yourself  deem  it  of  no  account  to  have 
been  conned  as  a  task  by  a  hundred  curly-headed 
urchins?  " 

P.  "  See,  now,  the  sons  of  Romulus,  having  well 

compared  to  the  sturdy  shoot  of  the  wild  fig-tree,  which  finds 
its  way  through  masonry  and  dislodges  even  solid  stones 
(Juv.  x.  143). 

3  These  words  refer  to  the  canities,  etc.,  ridiculed  in  1.  9 
which  the  Friend  accounts  for  by  the  hard  work  of  the  poet! 
Some  give  these  words  to  Persius,  with  an  ironical  meaning.' 

3*9 


PERSI    SATVRA   I 

Romulidae  saturi,  quid  dia  poemata  narrent ; 
hie  aliquis,  cui  circum  umeros  hyacinthina  laena  est, 
rancidulum  quiddam  balba  de  nare  locutus 
Phyllidas,  Hypsipylas,  vatum  et  plorabile  siquid, 
eliquat  ac  tenero  subplantat  verba  palato.  35 

adsensere  viri :  nunc  non  cinis  ille  poetae 
felix  ?  non  levior  cippus  nunc  inprimit  ossa  ? 
laudant  convivae  :  nunc  non  e  manibus  illis, 
nunc  non  e  tumulo  fortunataque  favilla 
nascentur  violae  ?"     "rides,"  ait,  "et  nimis  uncis     40 
naribus  indulges,     an  erit  qui  velle  recuset 
os  populi  meruisse  et  cedro  digna  locutus 
linquere  nee  scombros  metuentia  carmina  nee  tus?" 
"Quisquis  es,  o  modo  quern  ex  adverso  dicere  feci, 
non  ego  cum  scribo,  si  forte  quid  aptius  exit,  45 

quando  haec  rara  avis  est,  si  quid  taraen  aptius  exit, 
laudari  metuam ;  neque  enim  mihi  cornea  fibra  est. 
sed  recti  finemque  extremumque  esse  recuso 
feuge'  tuum  et  'belle.'    nam  ' belle'  hoc  excutetotum: 
quid  non  intus  habet  ?  non  hie  est  Ilias  Atti  50 

ebria  veratro  ?  non  siqua  elegidia  crudi 
dictarunt  proceres  ?  non  quidquid  denique  lectis 
scribitur  in  citreis  ?  calidum  scis'  ponere  sumen, 
scis  comitem  horridulum  trita  donare  lacerna, 

1  i.e.    some   sentimental   ditty  taken   from  heroic  times; 
there  may  be  an  allusion  to  the  Heroides  of  Ovid. 

2  Referring  to  the  simple  prayer  often  inscribed  over  tht 
ashes  of  the  dead,  sit  tibi  terra  levis  (S.T.T.L.). 

3  A  clear  imitation  of  Cat.  xcv.  7,  and  Hor.  Epp.  II.  i.  269, 
alluding  to  the  uses  of  waste  paper. 

4  No  doubt  the  Attius  Labeo  of  1.  4. 

320 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   I 

dined,  are  asking  over  their  cups,  *  What  lias  divine 
poesy  to  say'?  Whereupon  some  fellow  with  a 
purple  mantle  round  his  shoulders  lisps  out  with  a 
snuffle  some  insipid  trash  about  a  Phyllis  or  a 
Hypsipyle l  or  some  other  dolorous  poetic  theme, 
mincing  his  words,  and  letting  them  trip  daintily 
over  his  palate.  The  great  men  signify  their  ap- 
proval;  will  notyour  poet's  ashes  be  happy  now? 
will  not  the  grave-stone  press  more  lightly  upon  his 
bones  ? 2  The  lesser  guests  chime  in  with  their 
assent :  will  not  violets  now  spring  up  from  those  re- 
mains, from  the  tomb  and  its  thrice-blessed  ashes  ?  " 
F.  "You  are  scoffing,  and  use  your  turned-up 
nose  too  freely.  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  any 
man  who  has  uttered  words  worthy  of  cedar  oil 
will  disown  the  wish  to  have  earned  a  place  in  the 
mouths  of  men,  and  to  leave  behind  him  poems  that 
will  have  nothing  to  fear  from  mackerel  or  from 
spice  ?  "  3 

44  p  «  Well,  my  friend,  whoever  you  are  whom  I 
have  set  up  to  speak  on  the  opposing  side,  I  am  the 
last  man,  if  by  chance  when  writing  I  let  fall  some- 
thing good  (rare  bird  as  that  would  be),  I  am  the  last 
man,  I  say,  to  be  afraid  of  praise.  My  heart  is  not 
made  of  horn  !  But  I  decline  to  admit  that  the  final 
and  supreme  test  of  excellence  is  to  be  found  in  your 
'  Bravo  ! '  and  your  •'  Beautiful ! '  Just  sift  out  all 
those  'Bravos':  what  do  they  not  contain?  Will 
you  not  find  there  the  bedrugged  Iliad  of  Attius,4 
and  all  the  love-ditties  spouted  by  your  grandees 
while  digesting  their  dinners — all  the  stuff  in  short 
that  is  scribbled  on  couches  of  citron-wood  ?  You 
know  how  to  serve  up  a  sow's  paunch  piping  hot : 
you  know  how  to  present  a  shivering  client  with  a 

321 


PERSI   SATVRA    I 

et  <  verum '  inquis  f  amo,  verum  mihi  dicite  de  me.'    55 

qui  pote  ?  vis  dicam  ?  nugaris,  cum  tibi,  calve, 

pinguis  aqualiculus  propenso1  sesquipede  extet. 

o  lane,  a  tergo  quern  nulla  ciconia  pinsit, 

nee  manus  auriculas  imitari  mobilis  albas, 

riec  linguae  quantum  sitiat  canis  Apula  tantum  !  2   60 

vos,  o  patricius  sanguis,  quos  vivere  fas  est 

occipiti  caeco,  posticae  occurrite  sannae. 

quis  populi  sermo  est  ?  "      "  quis  enim,  nisi  carmina 

molli 
nunc  demum  numero  fluere,  ut  per  leve  severos 
effundat  iunctura  ungues  ?  scit  tendere  versurn        65 
non  secus  ac  si  oculo  rubricam  derigat  uno. 
sive  opus  in  mores,  in  luxum,  in  prandia  regum 
dicere,  res  grandes  nostro  dat  Musa  poetae." 
"  ecce  modo  heroas  sensus  adferre  videmus  3 
nugari  solitos  graece,  nee  ponere  lucum  70 

artifices  nee  rus  saturum  laudare,  ubi  corbes 
et  focus  et  porci  et  fumosa  Palilia  faeno, 
unde  Remus  sulcoque  terens  dentalia,  Quinti. 

1  propenso  PA2L  :  protenso  E  :  protenlo  Prise. 

2  tantum  L2  :  tante  EPL1. 

s  videmus  ABP2  :  docemus  EP1. 


i 


These  lines,  again,  are  closely  imitated  from  Hor.  Epp.  I. 

K  *' Janus,  having  two  faces  [bifrons),  could  not  be  ridiculed 

from  behind.  ,  .  . 

3  A  metaphor  from  the  art  of  the  sculptor,  who  passes  his 
nail  along  the  surface  to  make  sure  that  there  is  no  inequality. 

4  The  Palilia  or  Parilia   were  celebrated  on  the  21st  of 

322 


PERSIUS,   SATIRE   I 

threadbare  cloak,1  and  then  you  say,  'I  love  the 
Truth;  tell  me  the  truth  about  myself!'  How 
can  the  man  do  that  ?  Would  you  like  me  to  tell 
you  the  truth  ?  You  are  just  a  fool,  you  old  bald- 
pate,  with  that  pot-belly  of  yours  sticking  out  a  foot 
and  a  half  in  front  of  you  !  O  happy  Janus,  who 
cannot  be  pecked  at  from  behind  by  a  stork,  nor 
mocked  by  a  hand  nimble  at  mimicking  white 
donkey-ears  ;  at  whom  no  tongue  can  be  thrust  out 
as  far  as  that  of  a  thirsty  Apulian  hound  !  O  ye 
blue-blooded  patricians,  you  who  have  to  live  without 
eyes  in  the  back  of  your  head,  turn  round  and  face 
the  gibing  in  your  rear  !  2  And  what  does  the  town 
say  ?  " 

F.  «  Why  what  else  but  this— that  now  at  last  we 
have  verses  flowing  smoothly  along,  so  that  the 
critical  nail  3  glides  unjarred  over  the  joinings.  Our 
poet  knows  how  to  draw  his  lines  as  straight  as  if 
he  were  directing  a  ruddle  cord  with  one  eye  shut. 
Whatever  be  his  theme  :  whether  it  be  the  morals 
and  luxury  of  the  times,  or  the  banquets  of  the  great, 
the  Muse  furnishes  him  with  the  lofty  style." 

P.  "  Yes ;  and  so  we  now  see  heroics  produced 
by  men  who  have  been  used  to  trifle  over  Greek 
verses — men  who  have  not  art  enough  to  describe 
a  grove,  or  commend  the  abundance  of  country 
life,  with  its  baskets  and  its  hearths,  with  its  pigs 
and  the  smoking  hay-heaps  of  the  Palilia  ; 4  out 
of  which  emerges  Remus,  and  thou,  Cincinnatus,5 
polishing  thy  share-beam  against   the  furrow,  and 

April,  the  supposed  birthday  of  Rome.    Part  of  the  ceremony 
or  sport  of  the  day  was  to  jump  over  burning  heaps  of  hay. 

5  L.  Quintus  Cincinnatus.  Alluding  to  the  well-known 
story  of  his  being  saluted  as  Dictator  on  coming  home  from 
the  plough. 

323 
Y    2 


PERSI   SATVRA   I 

cum  x  trepida  ante  boves  dictatorem  induit  uxor 

et  tua  aratra  domum  lictor  tulit :  euge  poeta !  75 

est  nunc  Brisaei  quern  venosus  liber  Acci, 

sunt  quos  Pacuviusque  et  verrucosa  moretur 

Antiopa,  aerumnis  cor  luctificabile  fulta. 

hos  pueris  monitus  patres  infundere  lippos 

cum  videas,  quaerisne  unde  haec  sartago  loquendi     80 

venerit  in  linguas,  unde  istud  dedecus,  in  quo 

trossulus  exultat  tibi  per  subsellia  levis  ? 

"  Nilne  pudet  capiti  non  posse  pericula  cano 
pellere,  quin  tepidum  hoc  optes  audire  ' decenter'  ? 
'  fur  es/  ait  PediO.     Pedius  quid  ?  crimina  rasis       85 
librat  in  antithetis,  doctas  posuisse  figuras 
laudatur  :  ' bellum  hoc'     hoc  bellum  ?  an,  Romule, 

ceves  ? 
men  moveat  ?  quippe  et,  cantet  si  naufragus,  assem 
protulerim  ?  cantas,  cum  fracta  te  in  trabe  pictum 
ex  umero  portes  ?  verum,  nee  nocte  paratum,  90 

plorabit  qui  me  volet  incurvasse  querella." 

"  Sed  numeris  decor  est  et  iunctura  addita  crudis. 
1  cum  P1 :  quern  EaP2L. 

i  Brisaeus  is  an  epithet  of  Bacchus,  used  here  (like  venoms 
and  verrucosus)  to  indicate  the  poet's  style.  Line  >8  is  ap- 
parently a  parody  of  a  line  in  the  Antlope  of  Pacuvius,  in 
which  he  is  said  to  have  imitated  Euripides. 

2  These  were  the  greatest  of  the  early  poets  of  home,  after 
Ennius.  Both  wrote  tragedies.  Pacuvius  was  born  about 
b.c.  220,   Accius  (or  Attius)  in  B.C.  170.     Horace  speaks  oi 

324 


PERSIUS,   SATIRE   1 

then  thy  wife  in  a  flurry  arraying  thee  as  Dictator 
before  the  oxen,  while  the  lictor  drives  home  the 
plough  !  Bravo,  bravo  !  Mr.  Poet !  One  man  pores 
over  the  dried-up  tome  of  the  Bacchanalian1  Accius;2 
others  dwell  lovingly  on  the  warty  Antiope  of  Pacu- 
vius,2  '  her  dolorific  heart  buttressed  up  with  woes.' 
When  you  see  blear-eyed  sires  pouring  lessons  like 
these  into  their  children's  eai*s,  can  you  ask  whence 
has  come  this  farrago  of  language  into  their  tongues  ? 
or  whence  came  those  shameless  ditties  which  put 
your  smooth-faced  sprigs  of  nobility  into  a  tremble 
of  ecstasy  on  the  benches  ? 

83  "  Are  you  not  ashamed  to  be  unable  to  ward  off 
danger  from  some  hoary  head  without  wishing  to 
hear  some  trifling  word  of  commendation  ?  '  You 
are  a  thief!'  says  the  accused  to  Pedius  :  how  does 
Pedius 3  reply  ?  He  balances  the  charges  against 
each  other  in  smooth  antitheses,  and  Is  praised  for 
his  artistic  tropes  :  f  How  fine  ! '  they  say.  What, 
Romulus  ?  Do  you  call  that  fine  ?  Or  are  you 
just  losing  your  virility  ?  Shall  I  be  touched,  think 
you,  and  pull  a  penny  out  of  my  pocket  because  a 
ship-wrecked  mariner  sings  a  song  ?  You  sing,  do 
you,  when  you  carry  on  your  shoulder  a  picture 
of  yourself,  squatting  on  a  broken  plank  ?  No,  no . 
the  man  who  wishes  to -bend  me  with  his  tale  of 
woe  must  shed  true  tears — not  tears  that  have  been 
got  ready  overnight.'p — =" 

92  F.  "  But  you  will  admit,  anyhow,  that  grace  and 
polish  have  been  added  to  the  uncouth  measures  of 

them  with  more  respect  than  Persius  :  aufert  =  Pacuvius  docti 
famam  senis,  Accius  alti  {Epp.  n.  i.  56). 

3  The  name  "  Pedius,"  as  that  of  an  advocate,  seems  taken 
from  Hor.  Sat.  I.  x.  28,  but  there  seems  to  be  no  reference 
to  the  cause  in  which  Pedius  is  there  concerned. 

325 


PERSI    SATVRA    I 

claudere  sic  versum  didicit  '  Berecyntius  Attis,' 
et  '  qui  caeruleum  dirimebat  Nerea  delphin ' ; 
sic  'costam  longo  subduximus  Appennino.' '  95 

"■  arma  virum  !    nonne  hoc  spumosum  et  cortice 

pingui, 
ut  ramale  vetus  vegrandi  subere  coctum  ? 
quidnam  igitur  tenerum  et  laxa  cervice  legendum  ?" 
"  '  torva  Mimalloneis  implerunt  cornua  bombis/ 
et  '  raptum  vitulo  caput  ablatura  superbo  100 

Bassaris/  et  '  lyncem  Maenas  flexura  corymbis 
euhion  ingeminate  reparabilis  adsonat  echo  ! ' 
"  haec  fierent,  si  testiculi  vena  ulla  paterni 
viveret  in  nobis  ?  summa  delumbe  saliva 
hoc  natat  in  labris,  et  in  udo  est  Maenas  et  Attis,       1 05 
nee  pluteum  caedit  nee  demorsos  sapit  unguis." 
"Sed  quid  opus  teneras  mordaci  radere  vero 
auriculas  ?  vide  sis  ne  maiorum  tibi  forte 
limina  frigescant :  sonat  hie  de  nare  canina 
littera."     "per  me  equidem  sint  omnia  protinus 

alba;  110 

nil  moror :  euge !  omnes,  omnes  bene,  mirae  eritis  res ! 


1  These  lines  (93-5),  admiringly  quoted  by  the  Friend, 
seem  to  be  invented  or  quoted  to  show  the  absurdities  of 
modern  poetic  diction. 

*  These  four  lines  of  furious  bombast  are  said  by  the 
Scholiast,  apparently  without  any  authority,  to  have  formed 

326 


PERSIUS,   SATIRE   I 

our  sires.  See  how  we  have  learnt  to  round  off  our 
verses  with  '  Berecynthian  Attis  ' ;  or  '  the  dolphin 
which  was  cleaving  the  sky-blue  Nereus  ' ;  or  how 
'  we  filched  a  rib  off  from  the  lengthy  Apen- 
nines    !     l 

P.  "  O  shade  of  Virgil !  What  is  this  but  frothy 
inflated  stuff,  like  an  old  bough  smothered  under  its 
bloated  bark  !  Now  give  me  something  of  the  lan- 
guishing kind  ;  something  that  should  be  recited  with 
a  gentle  bending  of  the  neck." 

F.  "'They  filled  their  savage  horns  with  Mimal- 
lonean  boomings ' ;  '  the  Bassarid  ready  to  tear  off 
the  head  of  the  prancing  calf  ;  or,  '  the  Maenad, 
about  to  rein  the  lynx  with  ivy-trails,  redoubles 
the  Evian  shout :  responsive  Echo  gives  back  the 
cry  ! '  "  2 

P.  "  What  ?  Would  such  things  be  written  if  one 
drop  of  our  fathers'  manhood  were  still  alive  in  our 
veins?  Your  Maenad  and  your  Attis  are  just  mar- 
rowless  drivel,  floating  and  spluttering  on  the  lips, 
on  the  top  of  the  spittle :  no  banging  of  the  desk 
here,  no  biting  of  nails  to  the  quick  !  "  3 

107  p  "But  why  l'asp  people's  tender  ears  with 
biting  truths  ?  Take  heed,  I  beseech  you,  that  the 
doorsteps  of  your  great  friends  do  not  grow  cool 
towards  you  :  don't  you  hear  the  snarl  of  a  dog?  " 

P.  "  Well,  well,  have  your  way  ;  I  will  paint  every- 
thing white  henceforth  !  Bravo  !  Bravo  !  you  shall 
all  be  paragons  of  creation  !     Will  that  please  you  ? 

part  of  a  poem  by  Nero.     They  are  ridiculed  both  for  their 
grandiloquence  in  rhythm  and  for  their  crudities  in  expres- 
sion.    Line  99  is  imitated  from  Catull.  lxii.  264.     Line  100  is 
from  Eur.  Bacch.  743. 
8  This  line  is  obviously  imitated  from  Hor.  Sat.  i.  x.  70. 

327 


PERSI   SATVRA   I 

hoc  iuvat?  'hie'  inquis  'veto  quisquam  faxit  oletum. 

pinge  duos  anguis  :  pueri,  sacer  est  locus,  extra 

meite  :  discedo.     secuit  Lucilius  urbem, 

te  Lupe,  te  Muci,  et  genuinum  fregit  in  illis ;        115 

omne  vafer  vitium  ridenti  Flaccus  amico 

tangit  et  admissus  circum  praecordia  ludit, 

callidus  excusso  populum  suspendere  naso  : 

men  J  muttire  nefas  ?  nee  clam  ?  nee  cum  scrobe  ? 

nusquam  ? 
hie  tamen  infodiam.     vidi,  vidi  ipse,  libelle  :  120 

auriculas  asini  qttis  non  habet  ?  hoc  ego  opertum, 
hoc  ridere  meum,  tam  nil,  nulla  tibi  vendo 
Iliade.     audaci  quicumque  adflate  Cratino 
iratum  Eupolidem  praegrandi  cum  sene  palles, 
aspice  et  haec,  si  forte  aliquid  decoctius  audis.       125 
inde  vaporata  lector  mihi  ferveat  aure, 
non  hie  qui  in  crepidas  Graiorum  ludere  gestit 
sordidus  et  lusco  qui  possit  dicere  'lusce' 
sese2  aliquem  credens,  Italo  quod  honore  supinus 
freserit  heminas  Arreti  aedilis  iniquas,  130 

1  men  P2 :  me  Biich.  2  sese  aL  :  seque  P. 


1  On  spots  to  be  protected  from  defilement  snakes  were 
painted  up,  as  a  warning,  representing  the  genius  loci. 

3  C.  Lucilius,  the  father  of  Roman  Satire,  and  forerunner 
of  Horace,  Persius,  and  Juvenal,  was  born  in  B.C.  M8. 
He  wrote  thirty  books  of  Satires,  and,  living  in  days  of 
freedom,  was  unsparing  in  his  attacks  upon  the  follies  of  his 
contemporaries.     See  Introd.  pp.  xliii  sqq. 

328 


PERSIUS,   SATIRE   I 

'  No  nuisance  here/  you  say ;  paint  up  a  couple 
of  snakes,  my  lads,  and  clear  out ;  the  ground  is  holy, 
and  I'll  be  off."  1 

"  And  yet  Lucilius  2  flayed  our  city  :  he  flayed  you, 
Lupus,  and  you,  Mucius,  and  broke  his  jaw  over  you. 
Horace,  sly  dog,  worming  his  way  playfully  into  the 
vitals  of  his  laughing  friend,  touches  up  his  every 
fault ;  a  rare  hand  he  at  flinging  out  his  nose  and 
hanging  the  people  on  it !  3  And  may  I  not  mutter 
one  word  ?  Not  anywhere,  to  myself,  nor  even  to  a 
ditch  ?  Yes — here  will  I  dig  it  in.  I  have  seen 
the  truth ;  I  have  seen  it  with  my  own  eyes,  O  my 
book :  Who  is  there  who  has  not  the  ears  of  an  ass  ? 
this  dead  secret  of  mine,  this  poor  little  joke,  I  will 
not  sell  for  all  your  Iliads  ! 

"  O  all  ye  that  have  caught  the  bold  breath  of 
Cratinus — ye  who  haye  grown  pale  over  the  blasts 
of  Eupolis  or  of  the  Grand  Old  Man  4 — look  here 
too,  if  you  have  an  ear  for  anything  of  the  finer  sort. 
Let  my  reader  be  one  whose  ear  has  been  cleansed 
and  kindled  by  such  strains,  not  one  of  the  baser 
sort  who  loves  to  poke  fun  at  the  slippers  of  the 
Greeks,  and  who  could  cry  out  '  Old  one-eye ! '  to  a 
one-eyed  man;  nor  yet  one  puffed  up  with  his  dignity 
as  a  provincial  aedile  who  deems  himself  some- 
body because  he  has  broken  up  short  pint  measures 

3  This  is  Mr.  Conington's  excellent  translation. 

4  i.e.  Aristophanes.     These  three  poets,  as  recorded  in  the 
famous  lines  of  Horace,  Sat.  I.  iv.  1  : 

Eupolis  atque  Cratinus  Aristophanesque  poetae 
Atque  alii  quorum  Comoedia  prisca  virorum  est, 

constituted  the  great  Triumvirate  of  the  Old  Comedy  of 
Greece.  Cratinus  was  born  in  B.C.  519,  Eupolis  in  446,  and 
Aristophanes  in  444. 

329 


PERSI    SATVRA    I 

nee  qui  abaco  numeros  et  secto  in  pulvere  metas 

scit  risisse  vafer,  multum  gaudere  paratus, 

si  cynico  barbam  petulans  nonaria  vellat. 

his  mane  edictunv,  post  prandia  Calliroen  do." 


33° 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   I 

at  Arretium.  Nor  do  I  want  a  man  who  thinks  it 
funny  to  laugh  at  figures  on  a  blackboard,  or  cones 
traced  in  the  sand,  and  is  ready  to  scream  with  joy 
if  some  saucy  wench  plucks  a  Cynic  by  the  beard. 
To  such  gentlemen  I  would  commend  the  play-bill 
in  the  morning,  for  the  afternoon  Calliroe."  l 

1  Some  mawkish  sentimental  poem,  of  the  kind  satirised 
above. 


33' 


SUMMARY   OF  SATIRE  II 

Persius  takes  advantage  of  the  birthday  of  his 
friend  and  fellow-pupil  Plotius  Macrinus  to  discourse 
on  the  folly  of  the  prayers  usually  offered  to  the 
Gods  (1-7).  Men  pray  openly  for  worthy  objects; 
they  pray  secretly  for  money,  for  inheritances,  for 
the  death  of  all  who  stand  in  their  way,  besieging 
Jupiter  with  petitions  at  which  any  ordinary  citizen 
would  stand  aghast  (8-30).  Old  women  offer  the 
most  silly  prayers  on  behalf  of  babes  (31-40).  One 
man  prays  for  health  and  strength,  while  raining  his 
constitution  by  rich  living  (41-43);  another  for 
riches,  while  wasting  his  substance  in  costly  sacrifices 
(44-51).  Thirsting  ourselves  for  gold,  we  believe 
the  gods  must  love  it  also :  we  overlay  their  images 
with  gold  and  use  gold  vessels  in  their  service  in 
place  of  the  delf  of  Numa  (52-60).  O  fools  and 
o-rovellers!  Why  measure  the  Gods  by  our  own 
fleshly  lusts,  and  by  our  own  joy  in  gratifying  them  ? 
Nay,  rather  let  us  approach  them  with  clean  hands 
and  a  pure  heart,  and  the  homeliest  offerings  will 
win  their  favour  (61-75). 


333 


SATVRA  II 

Hunc,  Macrine,  diem  numera  meliore  lapillo, 
qui  tibi  labentis  apponit  candidus  annos. 
funde  merum  Genio.    non  tu  prece  poscis  emaci 
quae  nisi  seductis  nequeas  committere  divis. 
at  bona  pars  procerum  tacita  libabit 1  acerra  ;  5 

haut  cuivis  promptum  est  murmurque  humilesque 

susurros 
tollere  de  templis  et  aperto  vivere  voto. 
w  mens  bona,  fama,  fides  "  haec  clare  et  ut  audiat 

hospes ; 
ilia  sibi  introrsum  et  sub  lingua  murmurat :  "  o  si 
ebulliat  patruus,  praeelarum  funus  !  "  et  "  o  si  10 

sub  rastro  crepet  argenti  mihi  seria  dextro 
Hercule!  pupillumve  utinam,  quem  proximus  heres 
inpelloj  expungam  !  namque  est2  scabiosus  et  acri 
bile  tumet.     Nerio  iam  tertia  conditur  3  uxor  !  " 
haec  sancte  ut  poscas,  Tiberino  in  gurgite  mergis     15 
mane  caput  bis  terque  et  noctem  flumine  purgas? 

1  libavit  P.        2  namque  est  P2 :  nam  est  P1 :  nam  et  est  aL. 
3  ducitur  Servius  ap.  Virg.  Geo.  iv.  256  ;  vulgo  conditur. 

1  Lines  8-11  are  a  close  imitation  of  Hor.  Epp.  T.  xvi.  59-62. 

2  Apparently  a  slang  expression  like  "  going  off  the  hooks  " 
or  "  kicking  the  bucket." 

J  Hercules  is  the  god  of  windfalls  or  unexpected  gain. 

334 


SATIRE  II 

Set  the  whitest  of  white  stones,  Macrinus,  to 
mark  this  bright  day  that  places  the  gliding  years 
to  your  account  !  Pour  out  libations  to  your  Genius  ! 
You  are  not  the  man  to  utter  a  huckster's  prayer, 
such  as  you  could  only  entrust  to  the  gods  in  privacy. 
Most  of  our  great  men  offer  their  libations  from 
censers  that  divulge  no  secrets :  it  is  not  every  man 
that  is  ready  to  make  away  with  mutterings  and 
whisperings  from  the  temples,  and  to  offer  prayers 
such  as  all  men  may  hear.1  "A  sound  mind,"  "a 
fair  name,"  "good  credit" — such  prayers  a  man 
utters  aloud,  and  in  a  stranger's  hearing — the  rest 
he  mutters  to  himself,  under  his  breath  :  "  O  if  only 
my  uncle  would  go  off!  2  what  a  fine  funeral  I  would 
give  him ! "  or  "  if  only  favouring  Hercules 3  would 
cause  a  crock  of  silver  to  grate  against  my  harrow  !  " 
or  "if  only  I  could  wipe  out  that  ward  of  mine  who 
stands  next  before  me  in  the  succession  :  for  in- 
deed he  is  scrofulous,  and  full  of  acrid  humours." 
"  There's  Nerius 4  (lucky  dog !)  burying  his  third 
wife."  Is  it  that  you  may  put  up  prayers  like  these 
with  all  due  piety  5  that  you  dip  your  head  every 
morning  twice  and  three  times  in  the  Tiber,  wash- 
ing off  in  his  waters  all  the  pollutions  of  the  night? 

4  Perhaps  the  usurer  mentioned  by  Horace,  Sat.  n.  iii.  69. 

6  Sancte  is  emphatic.  However  unholy  his  prayers,  he 
hopes  to  keep  on  the  right  side  of  the  gods,  and  so  neglects 
none  of  the  proper  religious  observances.  See  Hor.  Sat.  II. 
iii.  290-2,  and  Juv.  vi.  523. 

335 


PERSI    SATVRA    II 

Heus  age,  responde  (minimum  est  quod  scire 
laboi-o) : 
de  love  quid  sentis  ?  estne  ut  praeponere  cures 
hunc — "cuinam?"  cuinam  ?  visStaio?  an  scilicet 

haeres  ? 
quis  potior  iudex  puerisve  quis  aptior  orbis  ?  20 

hoc  igitur,  quo  tu  Iovis  aurem  impellere  temptas, 
die  agedum  Staio  :  "  pro  Iuppiter  !  o  bone/'  clamet, 
"  Iuppiter  !  "  at  sese  non  clamet  Iuppiter  ipse  ? 
ignovisse  putas,  quia,  cum  tonat,  ocius  ilex 
sulpure  discutitur  sacro  quam  tuque  domusque  ?      25 
an  quia  non  fibris  ovium  Ergennaque  iubente 
triste  iaces  lucis  evitandumque  bidental, 
idcirco  stolidam  pi-aebet  tibi  vellere  barbam 
Iuppiter  ?  aut  quidnam  est  qua  tu  mercede  deorum 
emeris  auriculas  ?  pulmone  et  lactibus  unctis  ?         30 

Ecce  avia  aut  metuens  divum  matertera  cunis 
exemit  puerum,  frontemque  atque  uda  labella 
infami  digito  et  lustralibus  ante  salivis 
expiat,  urentis  oculos  inhibere  perita; 
tunc  manibus  quatit  et  spem  macram  supplice  voto    35 


1  Staius  is  taken  as  a  representative  of  an  average  respect- 
able citizen. 

2  An  obviously  Etruscan  name.  Etruria  was  famous  for  its 
soothsayers. 

3  Bidental  is  properly  a  spot  struck  by  lightning,  purified 
or  consecrated  by  the  sacrifice  of  a  bidens  (a  two-year-old 
victim),  and  enclosed  with  a  fence.  Such  spots  were  of 
evil  omen.  Here  the  bidental  stands  for  the  body  of  the 
man  killed  by  lightning. 

336 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE    II 

17  Come  now,  answer  me  this  question  :  it  is  a  very 
little  thing  that  I  want  to  know ;  What  is  your 
ppinion  of  Jupiter?  Would  you  rank  him  above — 
*  Above  whom?" — Above  whom,  you  ask?  Well, 
shall  we  say  Staius  ? 1  or  do  you  stick  at  that? 
Could  you  name  a  more  upright  judge  than 
Staius;  or  one  more  fitted  to  be  a  guardian  to  an 
orphan  family?  Well  then,  just  whisper  to  Staius 
the  prayer  with  which  you  would  impress  the  ear  of 
Jupiter: — "O  gracious  Jupiter!  "  he  would  cry,  "O 
Jupiter  !  "  And  will  not  Jupiter  call  upon  himself, 
think  you  ?  Do  you  imagine  that  he  has  condoned 
everything  because,  when  it  thunders,  the  sacred 
fire  rends  an  oak-tree  in  twain  sooner  than  you 
and  your  house  ?  Or  because  you  are  not  lying  in 
a  grove,  at  the  bidding  of  Ergenna  2  and  a  sheep's 
liver,  an  accursed  and  abhorred  object,3  will  Jupiter 
therefore  offer  you  his  foolish  beard  to  pluck  ?  And 
what  is  the  price  by  which  you  have  purchased  a 
kindly  hearing  from  the  gods  ?  Is  it  a  dish  of  lights 
and  greasy  entrails  ?  4 

31  See  how  a  granny,  or  an  auntie  who  fears 
the  gods,  takes  baby  out  of  his  cradle : 5  skilled  in 
averting  the  evil  eye,  she  first,  with  her  middle 
finger,  applies  the  charm  of  lustrous  spittle  6  to  his 
forehead  and  slobbering  lips ;  she  then  dandles  the 
wizened  Hopeful 7  in  her  arms,  and  destines  him  in 

4  Persius  and  Juvenal  are  continually  ridiculing  the  offering 
of  exta  to  the  gods  (Juv.  x.  354,  xiii.  115). 

5  This  passage  bears  a  close  resemblance  to  Juv.  x.  289  foil. 

6  Various  were  the  virtues  of  saliva,  especially  in  magical 
and  semi-magical  ceremonies.  See  Pliny,  H.N.  xxviii.  4,  22. 
It  was  especially  efficacious  against  the  evil  eye. 

7  The  contemptuous  epithet  heightens  the  contrast.  Pro- 
fessor Housman  takes  spem  to  mean  simply  hope  ;  hope  lean 
and  hungry,  and  therefore  insatiable. 

337 


PERSI   SATVRA    II 

nunc  Licini  in  campos,  nunc  Crassi  mittit  in  aedis  : 
"hunc  optent  generum  rex  et  regina ;  puellae 
hunc  rapiant ;  quidquid  calcaverit  hie,  rosa  fiat." 
ast  ego  nutrici  non  mando  vota  ;  negato, 
Iuppiter,  haec  illi,  quamvis  te  albata  rogarit ! 1         40 

Poscis  opem  nervis  corpusque  fidele  senectae. 
esto,  age";  sed  grandes  patinae  tuccetaque  crassa 
adnuere  his  superos  vetuere  Iovemque  morantur. 

Rem  struere  exoptas  caeso  bove  Mercuriumque 
accersis  fibra  :  "  da  fortunare  penatis,  45 

da  pecus  et  gregibus  fetum  !  "     quo  pessime,  pacto, 
tot  tibi  cum  in  flammis  2  iunicum  omenta  liquescant  ? 
et  tamen  hie  extis  et  opimo  vincere  ferto 
intendit :  ' '  iam  crescit  ager,  iam  crescit  ovile, 
iam  dabitur,  iam  iam"— donee  deceptus  et  exspes     50 
nequiquam  fundo  suspiret  nummus  in  imo. 

Si  tibi  crateras  argenti  incusaque  pingui 
auro  dona  feram,  sudes  et  pectore  laevo 
excutiat  guttas  laetari  praetrepidum  cor. 
hinc  illud  subiit,  auro  sacras  quod  ovato  55 

perducis  facies  ;  nam  fratres  inter  aenos 

i  rogarit  P  :  rogabit  aL.  2  flammas  aL. 

i  Both  men  of  proverbial  wealth.  Crassus  was  the  Triumvir 
slain  at  the  battle  of  Carrhae  B.C.  53;  Licinus  was  an  en- 
franchised slave  of  Caesar  who  became  Procurator  of  Gaul. 
See  Juv.  i.  109  and  Mayor's  note. 

*  Mercury  also  (mtrx)  was  the  god  of  gain.         _ 
3  Several  fanciful  interpretations  have  been  given  of  this 
phrase.     The  "brazen  brotherhood"  seems  to  refer  to  the 
gods  as  a  whole,  whose  statues  were  usually  of  bronze.     If 

338 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   II 

her  prayers  to  the  domains  of  a  LicinusJ  or  the 
mansion  of  a  Crassus ; l  "May  kings  and  queens 
desire  him  for  their  daughter !  May  the  maidens 
scramble  for  him !  May  roses  bloom  wherever 
he  plants  his  foot !  "—No !  never  shall  prayer  of 
mine  be  committed  to  a  nurse  ;  reject,  O  Jupiter, 
her  petition,  though  she  be  clothed  in  white  to  ask 
it  of  thee  ! 

41  You  pray  for  strength  of  limb,  and  for  a  body 
that  shall  not  fail  you  in  old  age.  Good ;  but  your 
grand  dishes  and  rich  ragouts  forbid  the  gods  to 
listen  to  you,  and  stay  the  hand  of  Jupiter. 

44  Lusting  for  wealth,  you  slay  an  ox,  and  sum- 
mon Mercury2  with  a  liver.  "Grant  that  my 
household  gods  may  prosper  me  !  "  you  cry  ;  "  grant 
increase  to  my  flocks  and  herds !  "  But  how  can 
that  be,  poor  fool,  when  the  fat  of  all  those  heifers 
is  melting  away  in  the  flames  ?  Yet  on  the  fellow 
goes,  bent  upon  winning  his  wish  with  his  entrails 
and  his  rich  cakes: — "I  am  now  adding  held  to 
field,  and  flock  to  flock,"  he  cries,  ever  hoping  and 
hoping  on,  till  at  length  his  last  coin,  duped  and 
disappointed,  heaves  a  vain  sigh  at  the  bottom  of 
his  purse  ! 

52  Were  I  to  offer  you  cups  of  silver,  or  gifts 
richly  inlaid  with  gold,  your  heart  would  beat  high 
with  joy,  and  drops  of  sweat  would  trickle  from 
your  left  breast.  Hence  your  idea  of  overlaying  the 
faces  of  the  gods  with  triumphal  gold  ;  for  you  say, 
"  Let  those  among  the  brazen  brothers  3  rank  highest 

any  of  these,  says  Persius  ironically,  send  us  dreams  free 
from  gouty  humours,  they  should  be  highly  honoured 
and  given  beards  of  gold.     See  Professor  Housman,  I.e.  pp. 

339 
z  2 


PERSI   SATVRA   II 

somnia  pituita  qui  purgatissima  mittunt 
praecipui  sunto  sitque  illis  aurea  barba. 
aurum  vasa  Numae  Saturniaque  impulit  aera 
Vestalesque  urnas  et  Tuscum  fictile  mutat.  60 

0  curvae  in  terris  animae  et  caelestium  inanis ! 
quid  iuvat  hoc,  templis  nostros  immittere  mores 
et  bona  dis  ex  hac  scelerata  ducere  pulpa  ? 

haec  sibi  corrupto  casiam  dissolvit  olivo, 

et  Calabrum  coxit  vitiato  murice  vellus  ;  65 

haec  bacam  conchae  rasisse  et  stringere  venas 

ferventis  massae  crudo  de  pulvere  iussit. 

peccat  et  haec,  peccat,  vitio  tamen  utitur.     at  vos 

dicite,  pontifices  :  in  sancto  quid  facit  aurum  ? 

nempe  hoc  quod  Veneri  donatae  a  virgine  pupae.     70 

quin  damus  id  superis,  de  magna  quod  dare  lance 

non  possit  magni  Messalae  lippa  propago  : 

compositum  ius  fasque  animo  sanctosque  recessus 

mentis  et  incoctum  generoso  pectus  honesto. 

haec  cedo  ut  admoveam  templis,  et  farre  litabo.       75 

1  The  bronze  vessels  of  the  Saturnian  age,  with  a  possible 
reference  to  the  bronze  coinage  of  early  Rome. 

2  cp.  Juv.  xi.  115.     Fictilis  et  nullo  violatus  Iuppiier  auro. 

3  Just  as  boys  dedicated  the  bulla  on  assuming  the  toga 
virilis,  so  did  maidens  hang  up  their  dolls  to  Venus  on 
attaining  womanhood. 


340 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   II 

who  send  us  dreams  most  free  from  gouty  vapours, 
and  let  their  beards  be  all  of  gold  !  Gold  has  now 
ousted  Numa's  crockery,  and  the  bronze  vessels 
of  Saturn  ; a  it  has  supplanted  the  urns  and  Tuscan 
pottery  2  of  the  Vestals. 

61  O  Souls  bowed  down  to  earth,  and  void  of  all 
heavenly  thoughts  !  What  avails  it  to  bring  our  ideas 
into  the  temples,  and  to  infer  from  this  sinful  flesh 
of  ours  what  is  pleasing  to  the  gods  ?  It  is  the  flesh 
that  has  spoilt  our  oil  by  mingling  it  with  casia,  and 
misused  Tyrian  purple  for  the  soaking  of  Calabrian 
fleeces  ;  it  is  this  that  has  bidden  us  pluck  the  pearl 
from  the  shell,  and  tear  out  the  veins  of  shining  ore 
from  the  native  clay.  The  flesh  indeed  sins,  it 
sins,  and  yet  it  gets  profit  from  its  sinning  But 
tell  me  this,  ye  priests,  what  avails  gold  inside  the 
sanctuary  ?  Just  as  much  as  the  dolls  3  which  maidens 
dedicate  to  Venus  !  Nay  rather  let  us  offer  to  the  gods 
what  the  blear-eyed  progeny  of  the  great  Messala4 
cannot  give  out  of  his  lordly  salver  : — a  heart  rightly 
attuned  towards  God  and  man  ;  a  mind  pure  in  its 
inner  depths,  and  a  soul  steeped  in  nobleness  and 
honour.  Give  me  these  to  offer  in  the  temples,  and 
a  handful  of  corn  shall  win  my  prayer  for  me  ! 

4  A  degenerate  descendant  of  the  distinguished  Messalae, 
a  family  of  the  Valerian  gens,  with  a  possible  reference  to 
L.  Aurelius  Cotta  Messalinus,  mentioned  with  contumely 
by  Tacitus  {Ann.  v.  3  and  vi.  5). 


34i 


SUMMARY   OF  SATIRE  III 

Prof.  Housman  has  well  explained  the  difficulties 
of  this  satire.  Throughout  its  first  sixty-two  verses, 
it  is  aimed  at  those  who  live  amiss  though  they 
know  the  right  way;  and  the  satirist  takes  himself 
as  a  specimen  of  the  class  {Class.  Quart.  Jan.  1913, 
pp.  26-28).  Persius  alternately  acts  the  part  of  the 
youth  satirised  (which  explains  the  use  of  the  first 
person  in  stertimus,  ftndor,  querimur)  and  alternately 
assumes  the  role  of  a  monitor,  expostulating  with 
the  young  man  and  trying  to  recall  him  to  a  sense 
of  the  follies  and  wasted  opportunities  of  his  life 
(1-43).  Childish  sports  are  suitable  to  the  age  of 
childhood ;  but  when  childhood  is  past,  and  know- 
ledge has  arrived,  the  serious  purposes  of  life  must 
be  faced  (44-62). 

From  that  point  onwards  the  theme  is  more 
general,  being  directed  against  those  who  have  not 
been  illuminated  by  philosophy  (63-118). 

"What?  still  sleeping?  Won't  you  be  up  and 
doino-?"  "  How  can  I?  won't  somebody  come  to 
help  me  ?  My  pen  won't  write,  and  the  ink  won't 
mark"  (1-14).  Mere  baby  that  you  are!  you  are 
running  to  waste;  satisfied  with  your  competency, 
you're  letting  the  precious  moments  slip,  and  will 
soon  be  no  better  than  Natta  who  has  lost  all  sense 
of  right  and  wrong.  What  torture  more  horrible 
than  to  feel  that  virtue  has  for  ever  passed  out  of 

342 


SUMMARY   OF  SATIRE   III 

your  grasp?  (15-43).  As  a  child  I  too  rejoiced  in 
childish  games ;  but  you  are  no  child,  you  have 
studied  philosophy,  you  know  the  difference  between 
the  straight  and  the  crooked ;  yet  here  you  are, 
yawning  off  yesterday's  debauch  without  a  thought 
for  the  ends  which  alone  make  life  worth  living ! 
(44-62). 

The  time  will  come  when  it  will  be  too  late  to 
mend ;  be  wise  in  time.  Learn  what  you  are,  and 
why  you  were  brought  here ;  what  is  the  true  end 
for  man,  and  what  are  his  duties :  don't  be  envious 
of  the  rich  stores  of  your  wealthy  lawyer-neighbour 
(63-76).  At  this  no  doubt  some  shaggy  soldier  will 
burst  into  a  guffaw  and  tell  us  that  he  doesn't  care 
a  fig  for  all  the  philosophers  in  creation,  with  their 
dull  looks,  their  bent  figures,  their  dismal  mutterings 
and  old-wife  dreamings  that  nothing  can  come  out 
of  nothing,  and  nothing  go  back  to  nothing  (77-87). 

A  man  feels  ill  and  consults  his  doctor,  who  orders 
rest  and  abstinence.  Feeling  better  after  a  few  days, 
he  returns  to  his  old  habits,  rejects  scornfully  the 
warnings  of  friends,  and  bathes  on  a  full  stomach. 
While  drinking  his  wine,  he  is  seized  by  a  sudden 
stroke,  and  is  carried  to  the  grave  by  citizens  of 
yesterday's  making  (88-106).  You  tell  me  you  have 
no  illness,  no  fever  in  your  pulse.  But  does  not  your 
heart  beat. high  when  you  catch  sight  of  money,  or 
when  a  pretty  girl  smiles  sweetly  on  you  ?  Can  you 
put  up  with  plain  food?  Not  you!  Cold  at  one 
moment  with  fear,  at  another  hot  with  wrath,  you 
say  things  and  do  things  which  Orestes  himself 
would  declare  were  signs  of  madness  C107-118). 


343 


SATVRA  III 

"  Nempe  haec  adsidue  ?    iam  clarum  mane  fenestras 
intrat  et  angustas  extendit  lumine  rimas  ; 
stertimus,  indotnitum  quod  despumare  Falernum 
sufficiat,  quinta  dum  linea  tangitur  umbra, 
en  quid  agis  ?  siccas  insana  canicula  messes  5 

iam  dudum  coquit  et  patula pecus  omne  sub  ulmo  est" 
unus  ait  comitum.     "  verumne  ?  itan  ?  ocius  adsit 
buc  aliquis.     nemon  ?  "     turgescit  vitrea  bilis  : 
findor  ut  Arcadiae  pecuaria  rudere  credas. 
iam  liber  et  positis  bicolor  membrana  capillis  10 

inque  manus  chartae  nodosaque  venit  harundo ; 
tunc  querimur1  crassus  calamo  quod  pendeat  umor, 
nigra  set  infusa  vanescit2  sepia  lympha ; 
dilutas  querimur  geminet  quod  fistula  guttas. 

O  miser  inque  dies  ultra  miser,  hucine  rerum       15 
venimus  ?  aut  cur  non  potius  teneroque  columbo 
et  similis  regum  pueris  pappare  minutum 
poscis  et  iratus  mammae  lallare  recusas  ? 


1  querimus  a  ;  queritur  L  :  qumritur  P2. 

2  vanescat  aL. 


344 


SATIRE   III 

"What?  Is  this  to  go  on  for  ever?  Here  is  the 
morning  sun  pouring  in  at  your  windows  and 
widening  every  chink  with  its  beams.  The  shadow 
is  just  touching  the  fifth  line  of  the  sundial  and  we 
are  snoring  enough  to  work  off  that  indomitable 
Falernian  !  What  are  you  going  to  do  ?  The  mad 
Dog-star  has  long  been  drying  and  baking  the  crops  ; 
the  cattle  are  all  lying  under  the  branching  elms  !  " 
So  speaks  one  of  my  young  lord's  friends. 

7  "What  now,  really,  is  that  so?  Won't  somebody 
come  quick  ?  What  ?  Nobody  there  ?  "  The  glassy 
bile  swells  big  Avithin  him.  "  I'm  just  splitting,"  he 
shouts ;  till  you  would  think  that  all  the  herds  of 
Arcadia  were  setting  up  a  bray.  We  now  take  up 
our  book,  and  the  two-coloured  parchment,  well 
cleansed  of  hair ;  some  paper  too,  and  the  knotty 
reed-pen.  Next  we  complain  that  the  ink  is  thick 
and  clots  upon  the  pen ;  that  when  water  is  poured 
in,  the  blackness  disappears,  and  that  the  pen 
sprinkles  the  diluted  stufFin  blots  upon  the  paper. 

15  Poor  fool,  and  more  of  a  fool  every  day  !  Is  this 
the  pass  to  which  we  have  come  ?  Why  not  rather 
go  on  like  a  pet  dove,  or  like  a  child  in  some  great 
man's  house  that  asks  to  have  its  food  cut  up  small, 
or  refuses  in  a  rage  to  listen  to  its  mammy's  lullaby? 

345 


PERSI   SATVRA   III 

"An  tali  studeam  calamo  ?"  cui  verba  ?  quid  istas 
succinis  ambages  ?  tibi  luditur.     effluis  aniens,         20 
contemnere  :  sonat  vitium  percussa  maligne 
respondet  viridi  non  cocta  fidelia  limo. 
udum  et  molle  lutum  es,  nunc  nunc  properandus  et  acri 
fingendus  sine  fine  rota,     sed  ruve  paterno 
est  tibi  far  modicum,  purum  et  sine  labe  salinum       25 
(quid  metuas  ?)  cultrixque  foci  secura  patella, 
hoc  satis  ?  an  deceat  pulmonem  rumpere  ventis, 
stemmate  quod  Tusco  ramum  millesime  ducis 
censoremve  tuum  vel  quod  trabeate  salutas  ? 
ad  populum  phaleras !  ego  te  intus  et  in  cute  novi.     30 
non  pudet  ad  morem  discincti  vivere  Nattae  ? 
sed  stupet  hie  vitio  et  fibris  increvit  opimum 
pingue,  caret  culpa,  nescit  quid  perdat,  et  alto 
demersus  summa  rursus  non  bullit  in  unda. 

Magne  pater  divum,  saevos  punire  tyrannos         35 
haut  alia  ratione  velis,  cum  dira  libido 
moverit  ingenium  ferventi  tincta  veneno  : 
virtutem  videant  intabescantque  relicta. 
anne  magis  Siculi  gemuerunt  aera  iuvenci, 
et  magis  auratis  pendens  laquearibus  ensis  40 

1  This  metaphor,  taken  from  testing  the  soundness  of  a  jar 
by  the  ring,  is  repeated  in  v.  24. 

2  Referring  to  the  annual  parade  (transvtctio)  of  the 
equites,  clad  in  their  purple  robes  of  state  (trabea),  before 
the  Censor. 

3  Peisius  warns  the  youth  that  he  is  in  danger  of  falling 
into  the  lowest  state  of  all,  that  of  the  incorrigible  reprobate 
who  is  dead  to  all  moral  feeling,  and  has  to  suffer,  when  too 

346 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   III 

i9  "  But  how  can  I  work  with  a  pen  like  this  ?  " 
Whom  will  you  deceive  ?  Why  these  whining 
evasions  ?  The  gamble  is  your  own  ;  your  brains  are 
oozing  away,  and  you  are  becoming  contemptible ; 
formed  of  green  and  ill-baked  earth,1  the  jar  rings 
false  when  struck,  and  betrays  the  flaw.  You  are 
moist  and  ductile  clay  ;  what  you  need  is  to  be  taken  in 
hand  from  this  instant,  and  moulded  ceaselessly  on 
the  swift-revolving  wheel.  But  you  have  an  ancestral 
property,  with  a  moderate  crop  of  corn ;  you  have  a 
bright  and  spotless  salt-cellar  (nothing  to  fear,  you 
think),  with  an  ample  salver  for  the  worship  of  the 
hearth.  What?  Will  that  satisfy  you  ?  Or  are  you 
to  puff  out  your  lungs  with  pride  because  you  come 
of  a  Tuscan  stock,  yourself  the  thousandth  in  the 
line ;  or  because  on  review  days  you  salute  your 
Censor2  in  a  purple  robe?  To  the  mob  with  your 
trappings!3  I  know  you  within  and  on  the  skin.4 
Are  you  not  ashamed  to  live  after  the  fashion  of  the 
abandoned  Natta  ?  a  man  deadened  by  vice,  whose 
heart  is  overlaid  with  brawn,  who  has  no  sense  of  sin, 
no  knowledge  of  what  he  is  losing,  and  is  sunk  so 
deep  that  he  sends  up  no  bubble  to  the  surface? 

35  O  mighty  Father  of  the  gods  !  Be  it  thy  will 
to  punish  cruel  tyrants  whose  souls  have  been  stirred 
by  the  deadly  poison  of  evil  lust  in  no  other  way 
but  this — that  they  may  look  on  Virtue,  and  pine 
away  because  they  have  lost  her!  Did  ever 
brazen  bull  of  Sicily  5  roar  more  frightfully  ;  did  ever 
sword  hanging  from  gilded  ceiling  strike  more  terror 

late,  all  the  horrors  of  a  guilty  conscience  (30-43).  This 
character  corresponds  to  the  cucSKaaros  of  Aristotle. 

4  i.e.  "  closely."     cf.  eV  XPV' 

6  In  allusion  to  the  brazen  bull  of  Phalaris,  tyrant  of 
Agrigentum.     See  the  parallel  passage  in  Juv.  viii.  81-82. 

347 


PERSI   SATVRA   III 

purpureas  subter  cervices  terruit,  "  imus 
imus  praecipites  "  quam  si  sibi  dicat  et  intus 
palleat  infelix  quod  proxima  nesciat  uxor  ? 

Saepe  oculos,  memini,  tangebam  parvus  olivo, 
grandia  si  nollem  morituri  verba  Catonis  45 

dicere1  non  sano  multum  laudanda  magistro, 
quae  pater  adductis  sudans  audiret  amicis. 
iure  etenim  id  summum,  quid  dexter  senio  ferret 
scire  erat  in  voto,  damnosa  canicula  quantum 
raderet,  angustae  collo  non  fallier  orcae,  50 

neu  quis  callidior  buxum  torquere  flagello. 

Haut  tibi  inexpertum  curvos  deprendere  mores, 
quaeque  docet  sapiens  bracatis  inlita  Medis 
porticus,  insomnis  quibus  et  detonsa  iuventus 
invigilat  siliquis  et  grandi  pasta  polenta ;  55 

et  tibi,  quae  Samios  diduxit2  littera  ramos, 
surgentem  dextro  monstravit  limite  callem  ;3 
stertis  adhuc  ?  laxumque  caput  conpage  soluta 

1  dicere  P  :  discere  aL.         *  deduxit  PaL. 
3  callem  P2LA2  :  collem  P'a. 


1  An  obvious  reminiscence  of  Horace,  Od.  in.  i.  17-18. 

2  In  playing  with  the  tesserae,  cubes  like  our  dice,  the 
highest  throw  (called  "  Venus,"  or  jactus  venereus)  was  the 
senio,  when  all  the  dice  turned  up  sixes.  The  lowest  throw 
was  when  all  came  out  singles  (uniones) :  that  was  called 
canis,  or,  as  here,  canicula. 

3  "  Straight "  and  "  crooked  "  (or"curved")  are  naturally 
applied  to  denote  "good"  and  "bad"  respectively.  Simi- 
larly our  word  "right"  is  derived  from  rectus,  and  "  de- 
praved "  from  pravus,  "crooked."  cf.  "the  crooked  shall  be 
made  straight,  and  the  rough  places  plain  "  (Isaiah  xl.  4). 

348 


PERSIUS,   SATIRE   III 

into  the  purple  necks  below,1  than  for  a  man  to  say 
to  himself,  "  I  am  falling,  falling  to  ruin,"  and  to 
turn  pale,  poor  wretch,  for  a  misdeed  which  the  wife 
of  his  bosom  may  not  know  ? 

44  I  used  often,  1  remember,  as  a  boy  to  smear  my 
eyes  with  oil  if  I  did  not  want  to  recite  the  noble 
speech  of  the  dying  Cato — a  speech  which  would  be 
much  applauded  by  my  idiot  of  a  master,  and  that 
to  which  my  father,  sweating  with  delight,  would  have 
to  listen  with  his  invited  friends.  And  very  right 
too  :  for  in  those  days  it  was  my  highest  ambition  to 
know  how  much  the  lucky  sice 2  would  bring  me, 
how  much  the  ruinous  ace  would  carry  off;  not  to 
be  baffled  by  the  narrow  neck  of  the  jar,  and  not  to 
be  outdone  by  anyone  in  whipping  the  boxwood  top. 

62  But  you  have  learnt  how  to  distinguish  the 
crooked  from  the  straight ; 3  you  have  studied  the 
doctrines  of  the  learned  Porch,  daubed  over  with 
trousered  Medes : 4  those  doctrines  over  which  a 
sleepless  and  close-cropped  youth,  fed  on  beans  and 
grand  messes  of  porridge,  nightly  pores;  and  the 
letter  which  spreads  out  into  Pythagorean  branches 
has  pointed  out  to  you  the  steep  path  which  rises  on 
the  right.5     And  are  you  snoring  still  ?  yawning  off 

4  Referring  to  the  iroiKi\i)  aroi.,  or  Painted  Portico,  in 
which  Zeiio,  the  founder  of  the  Stoics,  taught.  It  was 
adorned  with  pictures,  one  of  which  represented  the  battle 
of  Marathon,  with  Persians  in  their  native  dress. 

8  Pythagoras  of  Samos  is  said  to  have  depicted  the 
"Choice  of  Life"  under  the  form  of  the  Greek  letter  T, 
which  was  originally  written  with  a  straight  stem,  <-|.  The 
straight  stem  represents  the  period  of  indeterminate  child- 
hood ;  the  branching  ways  represent  the  moment  when  the 
choice  of  life  has  to  be  made.  The  steep  path  to  the  right 
is  the  path  of  virtue ;  the  sloping  path  to  the  left  that  of 
vice  and  pleasure. 

349 


PERSI   SATVRA   III 

oscitat  hesternum  dissutis  undique  malis  ? 
est  aliquid  quo  tendis,  et  in  quod  derigis1  arcum  ?     60 
an  passim  sequeris  corvos  testaque  lutoque, 
securus  quo  pes  ferat,  atque  ex  tempore  vivis  ? 

Elleborum  frustra,  cum  iam  cutis  aegra  tumebit, 
poscentis  videas  :  venienti  occurrite  morbo, 
et  quid  opus  Cratero  magnos  promittere  montis  ?     65 
discite  et,  o  miseri,  causas  cognoscite  rerum : 
quid  sumus  et  quidnam  victuri  gignimur,  ordo 
quis  datus  aut  metae  qua  mollis  flexus  et  unde, 
quis  modus  argento,  quid  fas  optare,  quid  asper 
utile  nummus  liabet,  patriae  carisque  propinquis     70 
quantum  elargiri  deceat,  quern  te  deus  esse 
iussit  et  humana  qua  parte  locatus  es  in  re ; 
disce,  nee  invideas  quod  multa  fidelia  putet 
in  locuplete  penu  defensis  pinguibus  Vmbris, 
et  piper  et  pernae,  Marsi  monumenta  cluentis,2       75 
maenaque  quod  prima  nondum  defecerit  orca. 

Hie  aliquis  de  gente  hircosa  centurionum 
dicat :  "  quod  sapio,  satis  est  mihi.     non  ego  euro 
esse  quod  Arcesilas  aerumnosique  Solones 

1  derigis  A2  :  dirigis  P2 :  dirigas  P. 

2  eluevtis  P1 :  clientis  P2L. 


1  The  name  of  a  doctor,  taken  from  Hor.  Sat.  II.  Hi.  161. 
'2  i.e.  what  is  the  real  and  proper  use  of  money. 

3  Country  clients  seem  generally  to  have  paid  their 
lawyers'  fees  in  kind.  See  the  enumeration  of  such  rural 
gifts  in  Juv.  vii.  119-121. 

4  Nothing  so  moves  the  ire  and  contempt  of  the  gentle 
philosophic  Persius  as  the  ignorance  and  coarseness  of  the 
brawny  soldiery.    See  v.  189-191 ;  also  Juv.  xvi.  throughout. 

350 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   III 

the  debauch  of  yesterday,  with  a  head  unhinged  and 
nodding,  and  jaws  gaping  from  ear  to  ear?  Have 
you  any  goal  in  life  ?  Is  there  any  target  at  which 
you  aim?  Or  are  you  just  taking  random  shots  at 
ci-ows  with  clods  and  potsherds,  not  caring  whither 
your  feet  are  taking  you,  and  living  from  one  mo- 
ment to  another  ? 

63  It  is  too  late  to  call  for  hellebore  when  the  skin 
is  already  swollen  and  diseased ;  meet  the  malady 
on  its  way,  and  then  what  need  to  promise  big 
fees  to  Craterus  ? l  Come  and  learn,  O  miserable 
souls,  and  be  instructed  in  the  causes  of  things : 
learn  what  we  are,  and  for  what  sort  of  lives  we 
were  born ;  what  place  was  assigned  to  us  at  the 
start ;  how  to  round  the  turning-post  gently,  and 
from  what  point  to  begin  the  turn  ;  what  limit  should 
be  placed  on  wealth  ;  what  prayers  may  rightfully  be 
offered ;  what  good  there  is  in  fresh-minted  coin ; 2 
how  much  should  be  spent  on  country  and  on  kin ; 
what  part  God  has  oi-dered  you  to  play,  and  at  what 
point  of  the  human  commonwealth  you  have  been 
stationed.  Learn  these  things,  and  do  not  envy  your 
neighbour  because  he  has  many  a  jar  going  bad  in  a 
larder  well  stored  with  gifts  from  the  fat  Umbrians  3 
whom  he  has  defended,  or  with  the  pepper  and  hams 
that  tell  of  grateful  Marsian  clients,  or  because  the 
pilchards  in  his  first  barrel  have  not  yet  come  to  an 
end. 

77  Here  one  of  the  unsavoury  tribe  of  Centu- 
rions 4  may  say,  "  What  I  know  is  enough  for  me  ;  I 
have  no  mind  to  be  an  Arcesilas,5  or  one  of  your  poor 

5  Arcesilas,  or  Arcesilaus,  a  Greek  philosopher  of  the 
third  century  B.C.,  regarded  as  the  founder  of  the  Middle 
Academy. 

351 


PERS1    SATVRA   III 

obstipo  capite  et  figentes  lumine  terrain,  8C 

murmura  cum  secum  et  rabiosa  silentia  rodunt 
atque  exporrecto  trutinantur  verba  labello, 
aegroti  veteris  meditantes  somnia,  gigni 
de  nihilo  nihilum,  in  nihilum  nil  posse  reverti. 
hoc  est  quod  palles?  cur  quis  non  prandeat  hoc  est?"  85 
his  populus  ridet,  multumque  torosa  iuventus 
ingeminat  tremulos  naso  crispante  cachinnos. 

"  Inspice,  nescio  quid  trepidat  mihi  pectus  et  aegris 
faucibus  exsuperat  gravis  halitus,  inspice  sodes  " 
qui  dicit  medico,  iussus  requiescere,  postquam         90 
tertia  conpositas  vidit  nox  currere  venas, 
de  maiore  domo  modice  sitiente  lagoena 
lenia  loturo  sibi  Surrentina  rogavit.1 
"heus  bone,  tu  palles."    "nihil  est."    "videastamen 

istuc, 
quidquid  id  est :  surgit  tacite  tibi  lutea  pellis."       95 
"  at  tu  deterius  palles.     ne  sis  mihi  tutor, 
iam  pridem  hunc  sepeli :  tu  restas."     "  perge,  tacebo." 
turgidus  hie  epulis  atque  albo  ventre  lavatur, 
gutture  sulpureas  lente  exhalante  mefites. 
sed  tremor  inter  vina  subit  calidumque  trientem2     100 
excutit  e  manibus,  dentes  crepuere  retecti, 
uncta  cadunt  laxis'tunc  pulmentaria  labris. 
hinc  tuba,  candelae,  tandemque  beatulus  alto 

1  rogavit  P  :  rogabit  P- :  rogabis  aL.         2  trienlal  <p. 

1  The  early  sage  and  legislator  of  Athens  of  the  seventh 
century  ;  the  most  famous  of  the  Seven  Wise  Men  of  Greece. 

2  The  fundamental  principle  of  the  Epicurean  philosophy. 

3  cf.  Hor.  Sat.  n.  iii.  88  :  ne  sis  patruus  mihi. 

352 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   III 

devils  of  Solons1  who  go  about  with  their  heads  bent 
down,  pinning  their  eyes  to  the  ground,  champing 
and  muttering  to  themselves  like  mad  dogs,  balancing 
their  words  on  protruded  lip,  and  pondering  over  the 
dreams  of  some  sickly  grey-beard  that  nothing  can 
come  out  of  nothing,  and  that  nothing  can  into 
nothing  return.2  Is  it  over  stuff  like  this  that  you 
grow  pale  ?  is  it  worth  while  for  this  to  go  without 
your  dinner  ?  "  Such  jests  move  the  mob  to  mirth  : 
peal  after  peal  of  laughter  comes  rippling  forth  from 
the  curled  nostrils  of  our  brawny  youth. 

88  "Examine  me,"  says  a  patient  to  his  doctor; 
"I  have  a  strange  fluttering  at  the  heart;  my  throat 
is  sore,  and  the  breath  coming  from  it  is  bad."  The 
doctor  orders  rest ;  but  when  the  third  night  finds 
the  man's  veins  flowing  quietly  along,  he  sends  a 
good-sized  flagon  to  a  wealthy  friend,  and  asks  for 
some  old  Surrentine  wine  to  tak-  before  his  bath. 
"You're  a  bit  pale,"  says  the  friend.  "O  that's 
nothing,"  says  the  other.  "  But  you  had  better  look 
to  it,  whatever  it  is;  your  skin  is  yellow  and  is  begin- 
ning to  swell."  «  You're  paler  yourself:  don't  come 
the  guardian  3  over  me  ;  I  buried  mine  long  ago  :  4 
only  you  are  left."  "As  you  please,  I  say  no  more." 
So,  gorged  with  a  good  dinner,  and  pale  in  the  belly, 
he  takes  his  bath,  slowly  pouring  forth  sulphurous 
vapours  from  his  throat.  But  as  he  drinks  his 
wine  a  shivering  fit  comes  on  and  knocks  the  hot 
tumbler  out  of  his  hand;  his  teeth  are  laid  bare 
and  chatter ;  the  savoury  morsels  drop  out  of  his 
relaxed  lips.  Then  follow  the  trumpet  and  the  torch, 
and  at  last  the  poar  departed,  laid  out  on  a  high 

4  From  Horace  again,  Sat.  i.  ix.  28:   "  0 nines  composui : 
Felices!  nunc  ego  resto." 

353 

A    A 


PERSI    SATVRA    III 

conpositus  lecto  crassisque  lutatus  amomis 

in  portam  rigidas  calces  extendit.     at  ilium  105 

hesterni  capite  induto  subiere  Quirites. 

"  Tange,  miser,  venas  et  pone  in  pectore  dextram. 
nil  calet  hie.    summosque  pedes  attinge  manusque  : 
non  frigent."     visa  est  si  forte  pecunia  sive 
Candida  vicini  subrisit  molle  puella,  110 

cor  tibi  rite  salit  ?  positum  est  algente  catino 
durum  olus  et  populi  cribro  decussa  farina  : 
temptemus  fauces  ;  tenero  latet  ulcus  in  ore 
putre,  quod  haut  deceat  plebeia  radere  beta. 
algeSj  cum  excussit  membris  timor  albus  aristas  ;     115 
nunc  face  supposita  fervescit  sanguis  et  ira 
scintillant  oculi,  dicisque  facisque  quod  ipse 
non  sani  esse  hominis  non  sanus  iuret  Orestes. 

1  The  tuba,  candelae,  amomis  (or  amormim),  all  part  of  the 
paraphernalia  of  a  funeral.     See  Juv.  iv.  108. 


354 


PERSIUS,   SATIRE   III 

bed  and  smeared  with  greasy  unguents/  stretches 
out  his  heels  cold  and  stark  towards  the  door,  and 
Quirites  of  yesterday's  making,  with  caj)s  of  liberty  2 
on  their  heads,  carry  him  out  to  burial. 

107  c  Feel  my  pulse,  poor  fool,  and  put  your  hand 
upon  my  heart ;  no  fever  there  !  Touch  my  hands 
and  my  feet;  they  are  not  cold!"  No,  but  if  you 
catch  a  glimpse  of  coin,  or  if  the  pretty  girl  next  door 
smiles  sweetly  on  you  :  will  your  heart  beat  steadily 
then  ?  Or  suppose  you  have  a  dish  of  tough  cabbage 
served  up  to  you  on  a  cold  plate  with  bread  made 
of  the  coarsest  flour,  would  we  not  discover  a  sore 
place  in  your  throat,  if  we  looked  into  it,  which  must 
not  be  scraped  by  plebeian  beet?  You  shiver  when 
pale  fear  sets  your  bristles  up ;  anon,  if  a  torch  is 
applied  to  you,  your  blood  boils,  your  eyes  flash  with 
rage,  and  you  say  things,  and  do  things,  which  the 
mad  Orestes  himself  would  swear  were  the  signs  of 
madness ! 

2  The  body  is  carried  to  the  grave  by  slaves  manumitted 
by  their  late  master's  will.  As  soon  as  the  slave  was  manu- 
mitted he  put  on  a  conical  cap  (pileus)  as  a  sign  of  liberty. 


355 
A  a  2 


SUMMARY   OF   SATIRE   IV 

Puffed  up  by  his  ancestry,  the  youthful  Aleibiades 
would  fain  guide  the  state.  Knowledge  of  men  and 
morals  have  come  to  him  before  his  beard  ;  trusting 
to  his  birth,  his  beauty,  and  his  wheedling  tongue, 
he  advises  the  multitude  on  the  most  delicate  points 
of  right  and  policy.  Yet  he  has  none  but  the  lowest 
conceptions  of  life ;  he  has  no  higher  ideals  than  an 
old  woman  who  hawks  vegetables  in  the  street 
(1-22). 

Not  one  of  us  has  any  knowledge  of  himself, 
though  we  are  all  ready  to  discourse  about  our 
neighbours.  Ask  a  question  about  Vettidius,  and  you 
will  learn  all  the  particulars  of  his  life  ;  how  miserly 
he  is,  how  he  starves  alike  himself  and  his  slaves. 
And  are  you  any  better,  though  your  vices  lie  in  an 
opposite  direction  to  his?  (23-41). 

Thus  we  lash  and  are  lashed  in  turn.  Do  not 
deceive  yourself;  however  much  the  neighbourhood 
may  praise  you,  care  for  no  man's  opinion  but  your 
own.  Look  carefully  into  your  own  heart,  and  ac- 
knowledge how  poorly  you  are  furnished  (42-52). 


357 


SATVRA  IV 

"  Rem  populi  tractas  ?  "  barbatum  haec  crede 
magistrum 
dicere,  sovbitio  tollit  quern  dira  cicutae. 
quo  fretus?  die  hoc,  magni  pupille  Pericli. 
scilicet  ingenium  et  rerum  prudentia  velox 
ante  pilos  venit,  dicenda  tacendave  calles.  5 

ergo  ubi  commota  fervet  plebecula  bile, 
fert  animus  calidae  fecisse  silentia  turbae 
maiestate  manus.    quid  deinde  loquere  ?  "  Quirites, 
hoc  puta1  non  iustum  est;  illud  male,rectius  illud." 
scis  etenim  iustum  gemina  suspendere  lance  10 

ancipitis  librae,  rectum  discernis  ubi  inter 
curva  subit  vel  cum  fallit  pede  regula  varo, 
et  potis  es  nigrum  vitio  praefigere  theta. 
quin  tu  igitur,  summa  nequiquam  pelle  decorus, 
ante  diem  blando  caudam  iactare  popello  15 

desinis,  Anticyras  melior  sorbere  meracas? 

i  puto  P3A2L.  

2  lericle^was  guardian  to  Alcibiades,  and  introduced  him 

to  public  life. 

3  Spp  Sat   iii.  52  and  note. 

*  The  Greek  letter  6,  the   initial   letter  of   Odvaros,  was 
used  by  judges  in  passing  a  death  sentence. 

353 


SATIRE  IV 

"  What  ?     Are  you  busying  yourself  with  affairs  of 

state  ? " 

Imagine  these  to  be  the  words  of  the  bearded 
sage  1  who  was  carried  off  by  that  deadly  draught  of 
hemlock.  Tell  me,  you  ward  of  the  mighty  Pericles,2 
what  are  your  qualifications?  Sagacity,  no  doubt, 
and  a  knowledge  of  affairs,  have  come  to  you  quickly, 
before  your  beard ;  you  know  well  what  to  say,  and 
what  to  leave  unsaid.  So  when  the  bile  of  the 
multitude  has  been  stirred  to  heat,  the  spirit  moves 
you  to  impose  silence  on  the  fevered  mob  by  a  lordly 
waving  of  the  hand.  What  will  you  say  after  that  ? 
"  Fellow  citizens  !  This  proposal  is  unjust ;  that  other 
one  is  bad ;  this  third  plan  is  the  best ! "  For,  of 
course,  you  know  exactly  how  to  weigh  justice  in  the 
twin  scales  of  the  wavering  balance  ;  you  can  detect 
the  straight  line  when  it  comes  in  between  curves,3 
even  when  the  straddling  leg  of  the  foot-rule  would 
lead  you  wrong  ;  and  you  know  how  to  affix  to  guilt 
the  black  mark  of  death.4  But  seeing  that  your  sleek 
outside  skin  will  avail  you  not,  why  not  stop  waving 
that  tail  of  yours  to  the  fawning  multitude  before 
your  time,  when  it  would  be  better  for  you  to  be 
swallowing  whole  islands-full5  of  hellebore  un- 
diluted ? 

5  There  were  two  towns  called  Anticyra,  one  in  Phocis, 
one  in  Thessaly.  Both  produced  hellebore,  the  sovereign 
remedy  for  madness. 

359 


PERSI   SATVRA   IV 

Quae  tibi  summa  boni  est?  uncta  vixisse  patella 
semper  et  adsiduo  curata  cuticula  sole  ? 
expecta,  haut  aliud  respondeat  haec  anus,    i  nunc, 
" Dinomaches  ego  sum/'  suffla,  "sum  candidus." 

esto,  20 

dum  ne  deterius  sapiat  pannucia  Baucis, 
cum  bene  discincto  cantaverit  ocima  vernae. 

Vt  nemo  in  sese  temptat  descendere,  nemo, 
sed  praecedenti 1  spectatur  mantica  tergo  ! 
quaesieris  "  nostin  Vettidi  praedia  ?  "     "  cuius  ?  "     25 
"dives  arat  Curibus  quantum  non  miluus  errat." 
"  hunc  ais,  hunc  dis  iratis  genioque  sinistro, 
qui,  quandoque  iugum  pertusa  ad  com  pita  figit, 
seriolae  veterem  metuens  deradere  limum, 
ingemit  'hoc  bene  sit'  tunicatum  cum  sale  mordens    30 
caepe,  et  farrata2  pueris  plaudentibus  olla2 
pannosam  faecem  morientis  sorbet  aceti?  " 
at  si  unctus  cesses  et  figas  in  cute  solem, 
est  prope  te  ignotus,  cubito  qui  tangat  et  acre 
despuat:  " hi  mores!  penemque  arcanaque  lumbi     35 
runcantem  populo  marcentis  pandere  vulvas  ! 
tunc  cum  maxillis  balanatum  gausape  pectas, 
inguinibus  quare  detonsus  gurgulio  extat? 
quinque  palaestritae  licet  haec  plantaria  vellant 
elixasque  nates  labefactent  forcipe  adunca,  40 

non  tamen  ista  filix  ullo  mansuescit  aratro." 

Caedimus  inque  vicem  praebemus  crura  sagittis. 
vivitur  hoc  pacto,  sic  novimus.     ilia  subter 

1  praecedentis  L.      2  farrata  olle  PA2:  farratam  ollam  L. 

1  The  lines  21  and  22  have  been  variously,  but  not  satis- 
factorily, explained.  The  name  Baucis  is  that  of  a  peasant- 
woman  in  one  of  Ovid's  tales  [Met.  viii.  640  foil.).  The 
general  sense  seems  to  be  that  the  arts  employed  by  Al- 
cibiades  are  no  better  in  their  way  than  those  used  by  an  old 
woman  in  hawking  vegetables  to  some  slovenly  fellow-slave. 

360 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   IV 

17  What  is  your  notion  of  the  highest  good  ?  Is  it 
to  live  off  dainty  dishes  every  day,  and  to  have  your 
delicate  cuticle  comforted  by  continual  basking  in 
the  sun  ?  Wait  a  bit,  and  this  old  woman  here  will 
give  no  other  answer.  Go,  then,  and  blow  your 
trumpet :  "  I  am  Dinomache's  son  ;  I  am  the  pink  of 
beauty!"  Good!  only  remember  that  you  are  no 
wiser  than  this  tattered  old  Baucis  when  she  puffs 
off  her  greengroceries  to  some  slipshod  slave  !  x 

23  Not  a  soul  is  there — no,  not  one — who  seeks 
to  get  down  into  his  own  self;2  all  watch  the 
wallet  on  the  back  that  walks  before !  Ask  any 
one  whether  he  knows  the  property  of  Ventidius ; 
"  Whom  do  you  mean  ?  "  he  will  ask.  "  O  that  rich 
man  at  Cures  who  owns  more  land  than  a  kite  can 
fly  over."  "  What  ?  Do  you  mean  that  fellow,  hateful 
alike  to  the  gods  and  his  own  Genius,  who,  on  the 
day  when  he  hangs  up  his  yoke  at  the  Cross  Roads, 
hesitates  to  wipe  off  the  dirt  that  has  gathered 
round  his  cannikin  of  wine,  and  groans  out,  '  May  it 
all  be  for  the  best ! '  and  while  the  slave-lads  are 
revelling  over  their  hasty-pudding,  munches  an 
onion,  skin  and  all,  with  a  pinch  of  salt  to  it,  and 
sucks  down  the  dregs  of  some  expiring  vinegar  ?  " 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  should  you  be  living  in 
lazy  luxury,  basking  in  the  sunshine,  there  is  always 
some  one  you  never  knew  to  jog  you  with  his  elbow, 
and,  spitting  savagely  at  you,  cry,  "Are  these  your 
vile  practices  ?  "  .  .  . 

42  We  keep  smiting  by  turns  and  by  turns  present- 
ing our  own  legs  to  the  arrow.  That  is  the  rule  of 
life ;  that  is  the  lesson  of  experience.     You  have  a 

2  From  line  23  to  the  end  the  subject  is  once  more  the 
want  of  self-knowledge. 

361 


PERSI   SATVRA   IV 

caecum  vulnus  habes,  sed  lato  balteus  auro 
praetegit.     ut  mavis,  da  verba  et  decipe  nervos,     45 

si  potes. 

a  Egregium  cum  me  vicinia  dicat, 
non  credam  ?  "     viso  si  palles,  inprobe,  nummo, 
si  facis  in  penem  quidquid  tibi  venit,  amarum 
si  puteal  multa  cautus  vibice  flagellas, 
nequiquam  populo  bibulas  donaveris  aures.  50 

respue  quod  non  es,  tollat  sua  munera  cerdo  ; 
tecum  habita :  noris  quam  sit  tibi  curta  supellex. 


1  This  line  has  not  been  satisfactorily  explained.     Puteal, 
or  Puleal  Libonis,  seems  to  stand  for  the  Forum,  which  was 


363 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   IV 

secret  wound  beneath  the  groin  ;  but  a  broad  golden 
belt  keeps  it  out  of  view.  Well,  as  you  please  ;  trick 
your  body  and  befool  it  if  you  can  ! 

40  <(  What?  If  all  my  neighbours  call  me  a  fine 
fellow,  am  I  not  to  believe  them  ?  "  If,  in  your  greed, 
you  change  colour  at  the  sight  of  gold  ;  if  you  yield 
to  every  foul  desire  ;  if  by  some  crafty  trick  you  flog 
the  money-market  with  whipcord,1  in  vain  will  you 
lend  your  thirsty  ears  to  the  flattery  of  the  mob. 
Cast  off  everything  that  is  not  yourself;  let  the  mob 
take  back  what  they  have  given  you  ;  live  in  your 
own  house,  and  recognise  how  poorly  it  is  furnished. 

the  Roman  money-market,  and  the  line  is  supposed  to  refer 
to  some  fishy  or  fraudulent  operation  on  the  Stock  Exchange. 


363 


SUMMARY  OF  SATIRE  V 

This  satire  begins  with  an  enthusiastic  acknow- 
ledgment by  the  poet  of  all  that  he  owes  to  his 
beloved  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend,  L.  Annaeus 
Cornutus,  and  then  goes  on  to  discuss  the  great 
Stoical  thesis  that  all  men  (Stoics  of  course  excepted) 
are  slaves.  The  whole  is  modelled  upon  Horace, 
Sat.  ii.  vii. 

O  for  a  hundred  tongues,  as  the  poets  of  old  used 
to  say  !  (1-4).  "  Why  such  a  prayer  from  you  ? 
You  are  not  going  to  gather  solemn  vapourings  on 
Mount  Helicon,  or  inflict  upon  us  the  ghastly  tales 
and  grandiose  mouthings  of  Greek  Tragedy ;  yours 
is  a  more  homely  theme,  to  rebuke  skilfully  and 
pleasantly,  in  every-day  language,  the  vices  and  the 
foibles  of  common  life  "  (5—18). 

No,  no !  my  page  is  not  to  be  swollen  out  with 
nothings.  It  is  to  you,  dear  friend,  that  I  wish  to 
open  out  my  soui.  that  you  may  test  it,  and  discern 
how  sound  it  rings,  and  how  deeply  I  have  planted 
you  in  the  recesses  of  my  heart  (19-29).  From  the 
day  when  I  first  put  on  the  robe  of  manhood,  when 
the  two  roads  of  life  lay  uncertainly  before  me,  you 
took  me  under  your  guardian  care ;  you  folded  me  to 
your  Soeratic  bosom,  and  taught  me,  with  cunning 
hand,  to  discern  the  crooked  and  the  straight.  It 
was  you  who  fashioned  my  soul ;  you  made  our  two 
lives  into  one,  alike  for  work  and  play.     Sure,  sure 

365 


SUMMARY   OF   SATIRE  V 

am  1  that  our  two  lives  are  derived  from  one  common 
star,  which  links  them  both  together  (30-51). 

No  two  men  have  the  same  desires.  One  is  a  busy 
merchant,  another  longs  for  ease :  games,  gambling, 
and  love  have  each  their  votaries,  but  when  their 
joints  have  been  broken  by  old  age  and  gout,  all  alike 
bemoan  their  days  of  grossness,  and  lament  the  life 
they  have  left  behind  them  (52-61).  Your  delight 
is  in  study ;  you  love  to  sow  in  the  hearts  of  youth 
the  good  grain  of  Cleanthes.  But  men  will  not 
learn  the  one  true  lesson  of  life  :  "  To-morrow,"  they 
say,  "will  be  soon  enough,"  and  then  again,  "to- 
morrow": a  morrow  which  is  for  ever  pursued  and 
never  reached  (62-72).  What  we  want  is  freedom  ; 
but  not  the  sort  of  freedom  which  is  bestowed  by 
the  lictor's  rod  (73-82).  "  But  is  not  the  newly-made 
Davus  free  ?  has  he  not  liberty  to  do  what  he  likes  ? 
"  Not  so,"  says  the  Stoic  ;  "  no  man  is  free  who  has 
not  learnt  the  proper  uses  of  life ;  no  man  is  free  to 
do  what  he  will  spoil  in  the  doing  of  it.  A  doctor 
must  understand  medicine,  a  sailor  navigation  :  how 
can  a  man  live  rightly  if  he  does  not  understand  the 
principle  of  right  living,  knowing  what  to  aim  at, 
what  to  avoid,  how  to  behave  in  all  the  circumstances 
of  life  ?  Satisfy  me  on  these  points,  and  I  will  call 
you  free,  and  a  wise  man  to  boot :  but  if  your  know- 
ledge is  but  pretence,  if  you  are  but  an  ass  in  a  lion's 
skin,  reason  will  not  listen  to  your  claim ;  naught 
but  folly  can  come  out  of  a  fool,  not  one  step  can  he 
take  without  going  wrong"  (83-123).  "For  all  that 
I  am  free,"  you  say.  "What?  do  you  know  of  no 
master  but  one  who  uses  the  rod?  Are  you  not 
a  slave  when  your  passions  drive  you  this  way  or 
that  way  as  they  will  ?     Avarice  bids  you  rise  and 

366 


SUMMARY   OF   SATIRE   V 

scour  the  seas  for  gain.  Luxury  warns  you  that  you 
are  mad  in  giving  up,  for  filthy  lucre's  sake,  all  the 
ease  and  all  the  joys  of  life.  Which  master  will  you 
obey?  And  if  you  once  break  free,  how  long  will 
you  keep  your  freedom?  (124-160).  Oris  it  Love 
that  enslaves  you  ?  Chaerestratus  feels  his  chain, 
but  cannot  make  up  his  mind  to  break  it :  the 
slightest  word  from  his  mistress  brings  him  back  to 
her.  What  kind  of  freedom  was  it  that  he  got  from 
the  lictor's  rod  ?  "  (161-175).  And  what  of  the  candi- 
date for  public  office  who  courts  the  mob  by  shows  ? 
What  of  the  superstitions  of  the  Jews,  or  the  many 
magical  follies  to  which  men  enslave  themselves? 
(176-188). 

At  this  philosophy  the  varicose  Fulfennius  laughs 
aloud,  and  bids  a  hundred  pence  for  a  pack  of 
your  Greeklings  (189-191). 


367 


SATVRA  V 

Vatibus  hie  mos  est,  centum  sibi  poscere  voces, 
centum  ora  et  linguas  optare  in  carmina  centum, 
fabula  seu  maesto  ponatur  hianda  tragoedo, 
vulnera  seu  Parthi  ducentis  ab  inguine  ferrum. 

"  Quorsum  haec  ?  aut  quantas  robusti  carminis 
offas  5 

ingeris,  ut  par  sit  centeno  gutture  niti  ? 
grande  locuturi  nebulas  Helicone  legunto, 
si  quibus  aut  Prognes  aut  si  quibus  olla  Thyestae 
fervebit  saepe  insulso  cenanda  Glyconi. 
tu  neque  anhelanti,  coquitur  dum  massa  camino,     10 
folle  premis  ventos,  nee  clauso  murmure  raucus 
nescio  quid  tecum  grave  cornicaris  inepte, 
nee  scloppo  tumidas  intendis  rumpere  buccas. 

1  The  reference  is  to  Iliad  ii.  489,  where  Homer  says 
that  ten  tongues  and  ten  voices  would  be  all  too  few  to 
recount  the  leaders  of  the  Achaean  host ;  also  to  Virgil,  who 
declares  that  a  hundred  tongues  and  a  hundred  voices  would 
not  be  enough  to  tell  all  the  forms  of  punishment  in  the 
lower  world  (Aen.  vi.  625  foil.).     See,  too,  Geor.  ii.  43-4. 

2  This  line  is  closely  imitated  from  Hor.  Sat.  II.  i.  15. 

3  A  grotesque  expression,  after  the  manner  of  Persius. 
For  whereas  the  demand  made  was  for  a  hundred  mouths 
for  utterance,  the  speaker  perverts  the  sense,  and  assumes 
that  the  hundred  mouths  are  wanted  for  swallowing  :   aa 

368 


SATIRE  V 

Ft  is  the  fashion  of  poets  to  cail  for  a  hundred 
voices,  a  hundred  mouths  and  a  hundred  tongues 
for  their  lays,1  whether  their  theme  be  a  play  to 
be  gaped  out  by  a  lugubrious  tragedian,  or  a 
wounded  Parthian  plucking  an  arrow  from  his 
groin.2 

5  "  What  are  you  driving  at  ?  What  are  these  big 
lumps  of  solid  poetry  that  you  would  cram  down 
the  throat  so  as  to  need  a  hundred  throat-power 
to  grapple  with  them?3  Let  those  who  meditate 
lofty  themes  gather  vapours  on  Mount  Helicon,4  if 
there  be  any  who  propose  to  set  a-boiling  the 
pot  of  Procne  or  of  Thyestes,5  whereby  that  dullard 
Glyco 6  may  be  provided  .with  his  nightly  supper. 
But  you  are  not  one  that  squeezes  the  wind  like 
the  bellows7  of  a  forge  when  ore  is  a-smeltin<r, 
nor  are  you  one  who  croaks  to  himself  some  solemn 
nonsense  with  hoarse  mutterings  like  a  crow ;  nor 
do  you  swell  out  your  cheeks  till  they  burst  with  an 

though  the  poet  were  a  glutton  stuffing  himself  with  Thyestean 
meals. 

4  Helicon,  near  Delphi,  was  the  mountain  of  the  Muses. 

5  Referring  to  the  grim  tragic  story  of  the  supper  off  his 
own  children  that  was  served  up  to  Tereus  by  his  wife 
Procne. 

6  An  actor  of  the  time,  who  seems  to  have  played  the  part 
of  Tereus. 

7  The  metaphor  of  the  bellows  is  closely  imitated  from 
Hor.  Sat.  i.  iv.  19  foil. 

369 
B    B 


PERSI   SATVRA  V 

verba  togae  sequeris  iunctura  callidus  acri, 

ore  teres  modico,  pallentis  radere  mores  15 

doctus  et  ingenuo  culpam  defigere  ludo. 

hinc  trahe  quae  dicis  *  mensasque  relinque  Mycenis 

cum  capite  et  pedibus  plebeiaque  prandia  noris." 

Non  equidem  hoc  studeo,  pullatis  2  ut  mihi  nugis 
pagina  turgescat  dare  pondus  idonea  fumo.  20 

secrete  3  loquimur.     tibi  nunc  hortante  Camena 
excutienda  damus  praecordia,  quantaque  nostrae 
pars  tua  sit,  Cornute,  animae,  tibi,  dulcis  amice, 
ostendisse  iuvat.     pulsa  dinoscere  cautus 
quid  solidum  crepet  et  pictae  tectoria  linguae.         25 
hie  ego  centenas  ausim  deposcere  fauces, 
ut  quantum  mihi  te  sinuoso  in  pectore  fixi, 
voce  traham  pura,  totumque  hoc  verba  resignent 
quod  latet  arcana  non  enarrabile  fibra. 

Cum  primum  pavido  custos  mihi  purpura  cessit     30 
bullaque  subcinctis  Laribus  donata  pependit, 
cum  blandi  comites  totaque  impune  Subura 
permisit  sparsisse  oculos  iam  candidus  umbo, 
cumque  iter  ambiguum  est  et  vitae  nescius  error 

1  dicas  L.       2  Some  MSS.  have  bullatis.       3  secreti  LA2. 

1  The  toga  was  worn  in  comedy,  as  representing  the  dress 
of  ordinary  life,  while  the  praetexta  was  worn  in  tragedy. 
This  line,  and  especially  the  use  of  the  word  iunctura,  is 
imitated  from  Hor.  A. P.  47-8  and  242. 

2  The  pallor,  as  elsewhere,  is  the  pallor  of  debauchery. 

*  The  metaphor  from  unbaked  pottery  is  repeated  from 

370 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   V 

explosive  Pop  \  No ;  your  language  is  that  of  every- 
day life  ; l  skilled  in  clever  phrasing,  rounded  but  not 
full-mouthed,  you  know  well  how  to  chide  vicious 
ways,2  how  to  hit  off  men's  foibles  with  well  mannered 
pleasantry.  Let  these  be  the  sources  from  which  you 
draw :  leave  to  Mycenae  her  banquets,  her  heads 
and  extremities,  and  make  acquaintance  with  the 
dinners  of  common  folk." 

19  Nay,  indeed,  it  is  no  aim  of  mine  that  my 
page  should  swell  with  pretentious  trifles,  fit  only  to 
give  solidity  to  smoke.  To  yourself  alone,  Cornutus, 
do  I  speak  ;  I  now  shake  out  my  heart  to  you 
at  the  bidding  of  the  Muse ;  it  is  a  joy  to  me 
to  show  you,  beloved  friend,  how  large  a  portion 
of  my  soul  is  yours.  Strike  it  and  note  carefully 
what  part  of  it  rings  true,3  what  is  but  paint  and 
plaster  of  the  tongue.  It  is  for  this  that  I  would 
ask  for  a  hundred  voices  :  that  I  may  with  clear 
voice  proclaim  how  deeply  I  have  planted  you  in  the 
recesses  of  my  heart,  and  that  my  words  may  render 
up  all  the  love  that  lies  deep  and  unutterable  in  my 
inmost  soul. 

30  When  first  as  a  timid  youth  I  lost  the  guardianship 
of  the  purple,  and  hung  up  my  bulla  as  an  offering 
to  the  short-girt  household  gods ;  in  the  days  when 
comradeship  was  sweet,  and  my  gown,  now  white,4 
permitted  me  freely  to  cast  my  eyes  over  the  whole 
Subura— at  the  age  when  the  path  of  life  is  doubt- 
ful,  and    wanderings,  ignorant    of   life,    parted    my 

iii.  21.  22.  The  phrase  pictae  tectoria  linguae  is  strained, 
combining  as  it  does  two  different  ideas  :— lit.  "  the  plaster 
of  a  painted  tongue." 

4  Not  "my  yet  unsullied  gown"  (Conington\  but  "my 
gown  now  white,"  as  distinguished  from  the  toga  praetexta 
of  boyhood. 

37i 

B    B    2 


PERSI  SATVRA   V 

diducit l  trepidas  ramosa  in  compita  mentes,  35 

me  tibi  supposui.     teneros  tu  suscipis  annos 
Socratico,  Cornute,  sinu.     tunc  fallere  sollers 
adposita  intortos  extendit  regula  mores 
et  premitur  ratione  animus  vincique  laborat 
artificemque  tuo  ducit  sub  pollice  vultum.  40 

tecum  etenim  longos  memini  consumere  soles 
et  tecum  primas  epulis  decerpere  noctes. 
unura  opus,  et  requiem  pai-iter  disponimus  ambo, 
atque  verecunda  laxamus  seria  mensa. 
non  equidem  hoc  dubites,  amborum  foedere  certo     45 
consentire  dies  et  ab  uno  sidere  duci. 
nostra  vel  aequali  suspendit  tempora  Libra 
Parca  tenax  veri,  seu  nata  fidelibus  hora 
dividit  in  Geminos  concordia  fata  duorum, 
Saturnumque  gravem  nostro  love  frangimus  una, 
nescio  quod  certe  est  quod  me  tibi  temperat  astrum. 
1  diducit  A2  and  others  :  diducit  Pa  Biich.  1S93,  Owen. 


50 


1  These  lines  repeat,  in  a  more  complicated  form,  the  idea 
of  the  branching  ways  given  in  iii.  56-57 ;  and  just  as  in  the 
former  passage  the  reading  diduxit,  though  not  that  of  the 
best  MSS.,  is  to  be  preferred  to  deduxit,  so  here  diducit, 
though  hard  to  translate,  may  perhaps  be  preferred  to  deducit. 
Cum  iter  ambiguum  est  denotes  the  point  at  which  the  choice 
has  to  be  made,  when  vitae  nescius  error,  "the  ignorant 
wanderings  of  childhood," diducit  trepidas mentes,  i.e.  "parts, 
or  draws  asunder,"  the  youthful  mind  into  the  two  branch- 
ing ways.  The  phrase  illustrates  the  tendency  of  Persius  to 
jumble  two  separate  ideas  into  one,  a  new  idea  being  intro- 
duced before  he  has  finished  off  the  old.  The  less  natural, 
the  more  tortuous,  the  expression,  the  more  is  it  after  the 
manner  of  Persius.  Deducit  would  have  the  simpler  meaning 
"  leads  down  the  mind  to  the  point  where  the  roads  begin  to 
diverge"  (Conington). 

2  We  have  here  repeated  from  iv.  11-12,  in  a  more  grotesque 
form,  the  idea  of  a  moral  foot-rule.  In  the  former  passage 
the  truly  moral  man  can  distinguish  the  crooked  from  the 

372 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE  V 

trembling  soul  into  the  branching  cross-ways1 — 1 
placed  myself  in  your  hands,  Cornutus;  you  took  up 
my  tender  years  in  your  Socratic  bosom.  Your  rule, 
applied  with  unseen  skill,  straightened  out  the 
crooked  ways ; "  my  soul,  struggling  to  be  mastered, 
was  moulded  by  your  reason,  and  took  on  its  features 
under  your  plastic  thumb.  With  you,  I  remember, 
did  I  pass  long  days,  with  you  pluck  for  feasting 
the  eai-ly  hours  of  night.  We  two  were  one  in  our 
work ;  we  were  one  in  our  hours  of  rest,  and  unbent 
together  over  the  modest  board.  Of  this  I  would 
not  have  you  doubt,  that  there  is  some  firm  bond 
of  concord  between  our  lives,  and  that  both  are 
drawn  from  a  single  star.3  Either  a  truth-abiding 
Fate  hangs  our  destinies  on  the  even-balanced  Scales, 
or  if  the  hour  which  dawned  upon  the  faithful  paii 
distributes  between  the  Twins  the  accordant  destinies 
of  us  twain,4  and  a  kindly  Jupiter  has  vanquished  for 
us  the  malignancy  of  Saturn,5  some  star  assuredly 
there  is  which  links  your  lot  with  mine. 

straight  even  when  his  foot-rule  has  a  crooked  leg  {i.e.  is  off 
the  square) ;  in  the  present  passage  the  moral  foot-rule  of 
Cornutus  is  so  perfect  that  it  cunningly  and  insensibly 
straightens  out  the  most  twisted  ways :  his  teaching  is  so 
skilfully  applied  that  the  pupil  is  led  on  to  virtue  without 
effort,  scarcely  knowing  it  himself. 

3  The  passage  which  follows  (45-51)  is  closely  imitated 
from  Hor.  Od.  n.  xvii.  15-24.  I  have  followed  the  translation 
and  interpretation  given  by  Professor  Housman  (I.e.  pp.  16- 
18).  The  horoscope  is  the  sign  of  the  zodiac  which  rises  at  the 
moment  of  birth ;  Persius  chooses  the  signs  of  the  Balance 
and  the  Twins,  as  both  are  suggestive  of  close  friendship. 

4  The  translation  given  above  for  lines  48  and  49  {seu  nata 
.  .  .  duorum)  is  that  given  by  Professor  Housman.  He  takes 
sen  in  line  48  as  equivalent  to  vel  si  (I.e.  p.  20). 

5  The  influence  of  Saturn  was  always  malignant,  that  of 
Jupiter  favourable  (Hor.  Od.  II.  xvii.  23-25).  Compare  the 
use  of  our  words  "  saturnine  "  and  "jovial." 

373 


60 


65 


PERSI    SATVRA    V 

Mille  hominum  species  et  rerum  discolor  usus  ; 
velle  suum  cuique  est,  nee  voto  vivitur  uno. 
mercibus  hie  Italis  mutat  sub  sole  recenti 
rugosum  piper  et  pallentis  grana  cumini,  55 

hie  satur  inriguo  mavult  turgescere  somno, 
hie  campo  indulget,  hunc  alea  decoquit,  ille 
in  venerem  putris ;  set  cum  lapidosa  cheragra 
fecerit 1  articulos  veteris  ramalia  fagi, 
tunc  crassos  transisse  dies  lucemque  palustrem 
et  sibi  iam  seri  vitam  2  ingemuere  relictam.2 

At  te  nocturnis  iuvat  inpallescere  chartis  ; 
cultor  enim  iuvenum  purgatas  inseris  aures 
fruge  Cleanthea.     petite  hinc  puerique  senesque 
finem  animo  certum  miserisque  viatica  canis. 
"eras  hoc  net."     idem  eras  net.3     "quid?   quasi 

magnum 
nempe  diem  donas  ?"     sed  cum  lux  altera  venit, 
iam  eras  hesternum  consumpsimus  ;  ecce  aliud  eras 
egerit  hos  annos  et  semper  paulum  erit  ultra, 
nam  quamvis  prope  te,  quamvis  temone  sub  uno     70 

i  fecerit  a  Biich  :  fregerit  TL  Seh.Owen. 
*  vitam  relictam  aL  Biich.  1893,  Owen:   vita  rehcta  P  (see 
iii.  38),  Biich.  1910.  3  eras  fiat  a.     So  Housm. 

1  See  Hor.  Sat.    n.'L    17:    Q'tot   capitum  vivunt  totidem 

studiorum  Millia.  _ 

a  i  e   the  life  of  virtue  which  they  have  abandoned.     Pro- 
fessor '  Housman  takes   this   somewhat   differently:    "they 
mourn  that  life  is  a  thing  which  they  have  left  untouched 
(I.e.  p.  21).     For  the   general  meaning,  cf.  m.  38:  virtutem 
videaut  intabe  scant  que  relicta. 

3  Clean thes  (born  at  Assos  about  B.C.  300)  was  a  pupil  of 
Zeno,  the  founder  of  the  Stoical  school,  and  had  Chrysippus 
for  his  pupil. 

374 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   V 

52  Men  are  of  a  thousand  kinds,1  and  diverse  are 
the  colours  of  their  lives.  Each  has  his  own  desires  ; 
no  two  men  offer  the  same  prayers.  One  under  an 
Eastern  sun  barters  Italian  wares  for  shrivelled 
pepper,  or  for  the  blanching  cumin-seed  ;  another 
grows  fat  with  good  cheer  and  balmy  slumbers. 
A  third  is  all  for  field  games  ;  a  fourth  loses  his 
all  over  the  dice  box ;  a  fifth  ruins  himself  by 
love :  but  when  once  the  knotty  gout  has  broken 
up  their  joints  till  they  are  like  the  boughs  of  an  old 
beech  tree,  they  lament  that  their  days  have  been 
passed  in  grossness,  that  their  light  has  been  that  of 
a  mist,  and  bemoan  too  late  the  life  which  they  have 
left  behind  them.2 

62  But  your  delight  has  been  to  grow  pale  over 
nightly  study,  to  till  the  minds  of  the  young,  and  to 
sow  the  seed  of  Cleanthes  3  in  their  well-cleansed 
ears.  Seek  thence  all  of  you,  young  men  and  old 
alike,  a  sure  aim  for  your  desires,  and  provisions  for 
the  sorrows  of  old  age  !  "  So  I  will,  to-morrow," 
you  say :  but  to-morrow  you  will  say  the  same  as  to- 
day.4 "  What  ?  "  you  ask,  "  do  you  think  it  a  great 
thing  to  present  me  with  a  single  day?" — No,  but 
when  to-morrow  comes,  yesterday's  morrow  will  have 
been  already  spent :  and  lo  !  a  fresh  morrow  will 
be  for  ever  making  away  with  our  years,  each  just 
beyond  our  grasp.  For  though  the  tire  is  close 
to  you,  and  revolves  under  the  self-same  pole,  you 

4  i  e.  " it  will  be  the  same  story  again  to-morrow "  :  "you 
■will  then  again  say  '  to-morrow.'  "  Professor  Housman  reads 
fiat,  following  AB,  and  explains  :  "The  new  life  shall  begin 
to-morrow,"  says  the  sluggard.  "No,  no,  let  the  old  life 
continue  to-morrow,"  answers  Persius  ;  "  the  day  after  to- 
morrow will  be  soon  enough  to  begin  the  new." 

375 


PERSI    SATVRA    V 

vertentem  sese  frustra  sectabere  canthum, 
cum  rota  posterior  curras  et  in  axe  secundo. 

Libertate  opus  est.    non  hac,  ut  quisque  Velina 
Publius  emeruit,  scabiosum  tesserula  far 
possidet.    heu  steriles  veri,  quibus  una  Quiritem     75 
vertigo  facit.     hie  Dama  est  non  tresis  agaso, 
vappa  lippus  et  in  tenui  fan-agine  mendax  ; 
rerterit  hunc  dominus,  momento  turbinis  exit 
Marcus  Dama :  papae,  Marco  spondente  recusas 
credei-e  tu  nummos  ?  Marco  sub  iudice  palles  ?         80 
Marcus  dixit,,  ita  est.     adsigna,  Marce,  tabellas. 
haec  mera  libertas,  hoc  nobis  pillea  donant. 

"An  quisquam  est  alius  liber,  nisi  ducere  vitam 
cui  licet  ut  libuit  ?  licet  ut  volo  vivere  :  non  sum 
liberior  Bruto  ?  "     "mendose  colligis/'  inquit  85 

stoicus  hie  aurem  mordaci  lotus  aceto : 
"hoc  reliqum  accipio, ' licet'  illud  et ' ut  volo '  tolle." 

1  This  passage  has  caused  much  trouble  to  commentators, 
but  can  be  simply  explained.  "  We  have  need  of  liberty 
(i.e.  the  true  liberty) — a  kind  of  liberty  not  possessed  b}'  any 
Publius  (any  Tom,  Dick,  or  Harry)  who  by  getting  enrolled 
in  the  Veline  tribe  becomes  the  owner  of  a  ticket  entitling 
him  to  a  mouldy  ration  of  corn."  Hae  stands  for  the  true 
kind  of  liberty:  "it  is  not  by  that  sort  of  liberty  that 
Publius  becomes  possessed  of  a  corn-ticket."  (See  Professor 
Housman,  I.e.  p.  23.)  The  Veline  tribe  was  the  latest  addi- 
tion to  the  local  tribes  instituted  by  Servius  Tullius,  making 
up  the  total  to  thirty-five,  a  number  which  was  never 
exceeded.  The  allusion  in  tesserula  is  to  the  free  distribu- 
tion of  corn  made  to  all  citizens  enrolled  in  the  tribes. 

2  The  process  of  manumission  here  ridiculed  was  that  by 
the  rod  {vindicta).  The  master  took  the  slave  before  the 
Praetor  or  other  magistrate,  a  third  person   touched  the 

376 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   V 

will  in  vain  pursue  it,  seeing  that  your  wheel  is  the 
hind  wheel,  and  that  your  axle  is  the  second,  not 
the  first. 

73  What  we  want  is  true  liberty ; ]  not  by  that 
kind  is  it  that  any  Publius  enrolled  in  the  Veline 
tribe  becomes  the  possessor  of  a  ticket  for  a  ration 
of  mangy  corn.  O  souls  barren  of  truth,  you  who 
think  that  one  twirl  of  the  thumb  can  make  a  Roman 
citizen !  Look  at  Dama  here :  an  under-strapper 
not  worth  three  groats ;  blear-eyed  from  drink ;  a 
man  who  would  tell  a  lie  about  a  half-feed  of  corn  : 
his  master  gives  him  one  spin,  when  lo  and  behold  ! 
in  the  tm-ning  of  a  top,  he  comes  forth  as  Marcus 
Dama  !  2 — "  What  ?  Do  you  hesitate  to  lend  money 
when  Marcus  is  the  surety  ? — Are  you  uneasy  with 
Marcus  for  a  judge?" — " Marcus  has  said  it,  it  must 
be  so  !  " — "  Pray,  Marcus,  put  your  signature  to  these 
deeds." — This,  indeed,  is  liberty  undefiled  !  This  is 
the  kind  we  get  from  our  caps  of  liberty ! 

83  "  And  pray  how  otherwise  would  you  describe 
a  free  man  than  as  one  who  is  free  to  live  as  he 
chooses  ?  I  am  free  to  live  as  /  choose :  am  I  not 
more  free  than  Brutus  ?  " — "  Your  logic  is  at  fault," 
says  my  Stoical  friend,  whose  ears  have  been  well 
washed  with  pungent  vinegar :  "  I  accept  the  rest ; 
but  you  must  strike  out  the  words  fyou  are  free' 
and  fas  you  choose."' 

slave  with  the  rod  (virga  or  festuca  or  vindicta),  saying 
"  Hunc  hominem  liberum  esse  aio."  The  master  then  acknow- 
ledged the  claim  by  turning  the  man  round,  with  the  words 
"Hunc  hominem  liberum  esse  aio."  The  ceremony  was  then 
complete.  See  below,  S8.  The  newly-enfranchised  citizen 
at  once  rejoices  in  a  praenomtn ;  so  Hor.  Sat.  n.  v.  32. 
"  Quint  e"  puia,  ant  "  Publi"  (gaudent  praenomine  molles 
Auricidae). 

377 


90 


PERSI    SATVRA    V 

"  Vindicta  postquam  meus  a  praetore  recessi, 
cur  milii  non  liceat,  iussit  quodcumque  voluntas, 
excepto  siquid  Masuri  rubrica  vetavit?" 

Disce,  sed  ira  cadat  naso  rugosaque  sanna, 
dum  veteres  avias  tibi  de  pulmone  revello. 
non  praetoris  erat  stultis  dare  tenvia  rerum 
officia,  atque  usum  rapidae  permittere  vitae  ; 
sambucam  citius  caloni  aptaveris  alto.  95 

stat  conti-a  ratio  et  secretam  garrit  in  aurem, 
ne  liceat  facere  id  quod  quis  vitiabit l  agendo, 
publica  lex  hominum  naturaque  continet  hoc  fas, 
ut  teneat  vetitos  inscitia  debilis  actus, 
diluis  elleborum  certo  conpescere  puncto  100 

nescius  examen  :  vetat  hoc  natura  medendi. 
navem  si  poscat  sibi  peronatus  arator 
Luciferi  rudis,  exclamet 2  Melicerta  perisse 
frontem  de  rebus. 

Tibi  recto  vivere  talo 
ars  dedit  et  veri3  speciem4  dinoscere  calles,  105 

nequa  subaerato  mendosum  tinniat  auro  ? 

1  vitiabit  L2  Sell.:  vitiavit  PaL1.  2  exclamat  P. 

3  veri  aL  Prise. :  veris  PBiich.Owen. 

4  speciem  P  Prise. :  specimen  aL. 


1  Masurius  Sabinus  was  a  distinguished  jurist  in  the  reign 
of  Tiberius.     The  titles  of  laws  were  written  in  red  ink. 

2  These  words  come  naturally  from  a  Stoic.  The  Stoical 
doctrine  of  Nature  had  much  to  do  with  the  adoption  by 
Roman  jurists  of  the  theory  of  a  "Law  of  Nature,"  the 
principles  of  which  were  applied  to  those  who,  not  being 
Roman  citizens,  could  not  claim  the  benefit  of  pure  Roman 
Law  (ius  civile).  Maine  shows  in  his  Ancient  Law  how  this 
fiction  of  a  "  Law  of  Nature  "  lay  at  the  root  of  what  we  call 

378 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   V 

88  {(  What  ?  When  on  leaving  the  Praetor's  pres- 
ence I  had  been  made  my  own  master  by  his  rod, 
why  am  I  not  free  to  do  everything  that  I  want 
to  do,  excepting  only  what  the  red-titled  Law  of 
Masurius  l  forbids  ?  " 

91  Just  listen  then,  and  drop  that  wrath  and  those 
curling  sneers  from  off  your  nose,  while  I  pluck  your 
old  wife's  notions  out  of  your  head.  It  was  no  part 
of  the  Praetor's  business  to  impart  to  fools  a  delicate 
sense  of  duty,  or  empower  them  to  make  a  right  use 
of  our  fleeting  life  :  it  would  be  more  easy  to  fit 
a  hulking  clodhopper  with  a  harp.  Reason  forbids, 
and  whispers  privately  into  the  ear  that  no  man 
be  allowed  to  do  what  he  will  spoil  in  the  doing  of  it. 
The  public  law  of  man  and  Nature  2  herself  lay  down 
this  rule,  that  ignorance  and  imbecility  should  hold 
action  to  be  forbidden  them.3  If  you  would  com- 
pound hellebore  when  you  do  not  know  at  what  point 
to  steady  the  tongue  of  the  steel-yard,  the  principles 
of  the  healing  art  forbid  ;  if  a  hobnailed  countryman, 
who  knows  nothing  of  the  morning  star,  were  to 
ask  for  the  command  of  a  ship,  Melicerta  4  would  de- 
clare that  modesty  had  perished  from  off  the  earth. 

104  Has  Philosophy  taught  you  how  to  live  rightly  ?5 
Are  you  skilled  in  discerning  the  appearance  of  truth, 
that  there  be  no  false  ring  of  copper  underneath  the 

"Equity"  in  English  law.  The  instrument  by  which  the 
idea  of  a  "Law  of  Nature"  was  grafted  on  to  Roman  law 
was  the  Praetor's  Edict,  each  Praetor  adopting  and  carrying 
on  the  Edict  of  his  predecessor. 

3  This  may  either  mean  "  may  deem  them  to  be  forbidden  to 
them  "  (which  is  precisely  what  incompetence  never  does),  or 
else  ' '  holds  back  or  checks  action  as  though  it  were  forbidden." 

4  Melicertes,  otherwise  Palaemon,  was  a  sea  deity. 

6  The  catechism  which  follows  seems  modelled  upon  Hor. 
Epp.  ii.  ii.  205-211.. 

379 


PERSI   SATVRA  V 

quaeque  sequenda  forent  quaeque  evitanda  vicissim, 
ilia  prius  creta,  mox  haec  carbone  notasti  ? 
es  modicus  voti,  presso  lare,  dulcis  amicis  ? 
iam  nunc  adstringas,  iam  nunc  granaria  laxes,        110 
inque  luto  fixum  possis  transcendere  nummum 
nee  gluttu x  sorbere  salivam  Mercurial  em  ? 
"  haec  mea  sunt,  teneo  "  cum  vere  dixeris,  esto 
liberque  ac  sapiens  praetoribus  ac  love  dextro. 
sin  tu,  cum  fueris  nostrae  paulo  ante  farinae,  115 

pelliculam  veterem  retines  et  fronte  politus 
astutam  vapido  servas  in  pectore  volpem, 
quae  dederam  supra  relego  2  funemque  reduco : 
nil  tibi  concessit  ratio ;  digitum  exere,  peccas, 
et  quid  tarn  parvum  est?  sed  nullo  ture  litabis,     120 
haereat  in  stultis  brevis  ut  semuncia  recti, 
haec  miscere  nefas  ;  nee,  cum  sis  cetera  fossor, 
tris  tantum  ad  numeros  satyrum  moveare  Bathylli. 
"  Liber  ego."    unde  datum  hoc  sumis,3  tot  sub- 
dite  rebus  ? 
an  dominum  ignoras  nisi  quern  vindicta  relaxat  ?      125 

1  gluttu  P  :  glutlo  aL.  2  Some  MSS.  have  repelo. 

3  gamin  PL2:  sentis  aL1  (cf.  Hor.  Sat.  n.  ii.  31). 


1  Mercury  being  the  god  of  gain. 

2  Here  Persius,  in  his  effort  to  combine  two  passages  from 
Horace  into  a  single  phrase,  perpetrates  a  gross  confusion  *)f 
metaphors.  In  the  one  passage  {Sat.  I.  vi.  22)  Horace  alludes 
to  the  ass  in  the  lion's  skin,  in  the  other  {Sat.  II.  iii.  186)  to 
that  of  the  fox  dressed  up  as  a  lion.  The  words  farinae 
nostrae  (" of  the  same  flour  as  ourselves")  introduce  a  new 
metaphor;  and  when  he  says  pelliculam  veterem,  "the  old 

380 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE  V 

gold?  Have  you  marked  off  the  things  to  be  aimed 
at,  and  those  again  to  be  avoided — the  former  with 
a  white  stone,  the  latter  with  a  black?  Are  you 
moderate  in  your  desires,  modest  in  your  estab- 
lishment, and  kindly  to  your  friends  ?  Can  you 
now  close  your  granaries,  and  now  again  throw  them 
open?  Can  you  pass  by  a  coin  sticking  in  the 
mud,  without  gulping  down  your  saliva  in  your 
greed  for  treasure  ?:  When  you  can  truly  say,  "Yes, 
all  these  things  are  mine,"  I  will  call  you  a  free 
and  a  wise  man,  under  the  favour  of  praetors  and  of 
Jove ;  but  if,  after  having  been  but  a  little  ago  of 
the  same  stuff  as  ourselves,  you  hold  to  your  old  skin, 
and  though  your  brow  be  smooth,  still  keep  a  crafty 
fox  2  in  that  vapid  heart  of  yours,  I  take  back  what 
I  have  just  granted  you  and  pull  in  my  rope.  Not 
one  point  has  reason  granted  you ;  put  out  your 
finger  (and  what  can  be  a  slighter  thing  than  that  ?) 
and  you  go  wrong :  not  all  the  incense  in  the  world 
will  win  leave  from  the  Gods  that  one  short  half- 
ounce  of  wisdom  may  find  lodgment  in  the  head  of  a 
fool !  To  mingle  3  the  two  things  is  sacrilege  ;  if  you 
are  a  clown  in  all  else,  you  cannot  dance  as  much  as 
three  steps  of  the  Satyr  of  Bathyllus.4 

124  tc  yet  for  all  that  I  am  free,"  you  say.  And 
what  is  your  ground  of  confidence,  you  that  are  a 
slave  to  so  many  masters  ?  Do  you  know  of  no  master 
but  the  one  from  whom  the  praetor's  rod  sets  you 

skin,"   what   he   means  is  that  the  real  nature  of   the  fox 
remains  unchanged  beneath  the  skin. 

3  Miscere  is  exactly  the  right  word  here,  being  used  of 
mingling  things  which  have  no  proportion  or  affinity  to  each 
other,  as  distinguished  from  temperare,  "to  mix  in  due 
proportion." 

4  A  comic  dancer  of  the  time. 

38l 


PERSI   SATVRA   V 

"  i  puer  et  strigiles  Crispini  ad  balnea  defer !  " 
si  increpuit,  "  cessas  nugator  ?  "  servitium  acre 
te  nihil  inpellit,  nee  quicquam  extrinsecus  intrat 
quod  nervos  agitet ;  sed  si  intus  et  in  iecore  aegro 
nascuntur  domini,  qui  tu  inpunitior  exis  130 

atque  hie,  quern  ad  strigiles  scutica  et  metus  egit 

erilis? 
Mane  piger  stertis.     "surge,"  inquit  Avaritia, 

"  heia 
surge."     negas.     instat:  "surge,"  inquit.     "non 

queo.''     "surge.'' 
"et  quid  agam?"     "rogas?  en  saperdas  advehe 

Ponto, 
castoreum,  stuppas,  hebenum,  tus,  lubrica  Coa ;     135 
tolle  recens  primus  piper  ex1  sitiente  camelo ; 
verte  aliquid ;    iura."      "sed   Iuppiter  audiet." 

"eheu, 
baro,2  regustatum  digito  terebrare  salinum 
contentus  perages,  si  vivere  cum  love  tendis." 
lam  pueris  pellem  succinctus  et  oenophorum 

aptas;  140 

"ocius  ad  navem !  "  nihil  obstat  quin  trabe  vasta 
Aegaeum  rapiaSj  ni  sollers  Luxuria  ante 
seductum  moneat :  "  quo  deinde,  insane,  mis,  quo  ? 
quid  tibi  vis?  calido  sub  pectore  mascula  bilis 

1  e  <p:  et  PaL  ;  and  so  Housm. 
1  baro  Ina  :  varo  P2A2L. 

1  The  word  verte  is  usually  explained  as  =  the  phrase 
versuram  facere,  "  to  borrow  "  ;  properly  to  borrow  from  one 
man  in  order  to  pay  another.      But  the  word  may  denote 

382 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE  V 

free  ?  If  somebody  sharply  bids  you  take  Crispinus' 
scrapers  to  the  bath,  and  then  abuses  you  as  a 
lazy  scoundrel,  no  strict  bond  of  slavery,  certainly, 
bids  you  stir,  no  force  from  without  comes  in  to 
move  your  muscles ;  but  if  masters  grow  up  within, 
in  that  sickly  bosom  of  yours,  how  do  you  get  oft 
scot-free  any  more  than  the  man  who  was  sent 
off  to  fetch  the  scrapers  by  the  terror  of  his  master's 
whip  ? 

132  You  are  snoring  lazily  in  the  moraing :  "  Up 
you  get,"  says  Avarice;  "come,  up  with  you!" — 
You  do  not  budge  :  "  Up,  up  with  you  ! "  she  cries 
again.---" O,  I  can't !  "  you  say. — "Rise,  rise,  I  tell 
you  !  "— "  O  dear,  what  for  ?  "— "  What  for  ?  Why, 
to  fetch  salt  fish  from  Pontus,  beaver  oil,  tow,  ebony, 
frankincense  and  glossy  Coan  fabrics ;  be  the  first  to 
take  the  fresh  pepper  off  the  camel's  back  before  he 
has  had  his  drink ;  do  some  bartering,1  and  then 
forswear  yourself." — "O,  but  Jupiter  will  hear  !  " — 
"  Whew !  if  you  mean  to  live  on  terms  with  Jupiter, 
you  must  just  go  on  as  you  are,  content  to  be  a  simple- 
ton scraping  and  scraping  away  with  your  thumb  at 
the  salt-cellar  which  you  have  so  often  tasted."  2 

140  And  now  you  are  all  ready,  piling  packing-cases 
and  wine-jars  on  to  your  slaves.  "  Quick  aboard  !  " 
you  cry ;  there's  nothing  now  to  stop  you  from 
scudding  over  the  Aegean  in  a  big  ship,  were  it 
not  that  crafty  Luxury  takes  you  aside  for  a  word 
of  remonstrance  :  "  Where  are  you  off  to  now,  you 
madman  ?     What   do   you    want  ?     What   masterful 

mere  bargaining  or  exchange:  "exchange  something,"  i.e. 
"  enter  into  trade  and  then  help  yourself  by  perjury." 

2  The  phrase  a\ia.v  rpv-nuv  is  said  of  those  who  have  come 
to  the  end  of  their  resources  through  poverty. 

3*3 


PERSI    SATVRA  V 

intumuit,  quam  non  extinxerit  urna  cicutae  ?  145 

tu  mare  transilias  ?  tibi  torta  cannabe  fulto 

cena  sit  in  transtro  Veientanumque  rubellum 

exlialet1  vapida  laesum  pice  sessilis  obba? 

quid  petis?  ut  nummi,  quos  hie  quincunce  modesto 

nutrieras,  peragant2  avidos  sudore  deunces  ?  150 

indulge  genio,  carpamus  dulcia,  nostrum  est 

quod  viviSj  cinis  et  manes  et  fabula  fies. 

vive  memor  leti,  fugit  hora,  hoc  quod  loquor  inde  est." 

En  quid  agis?  duplici  in  diversum  scinderis  hamo. 
huncine  an  hunc  sequeris?  subeas  alternus  oportet  155 
ancipiti  obsequio  dominos,  alternus  oberres. 
nee  tu  cum  obstiteris  semel  instantique  negaris 
parere  imperio,  "rupi  iam  vincula  "  dicas  ; 
nam  et  luctata  canis  nodum  abripit,  at  tamen  illi_, 
cum  fugit,  a  collo  trahitur  pars  longa  catenae.        160 

"  Dave,  cito,  hoc  credas  iubeo,  finire  dolores 
praeteritos  meditor  "  :  crudum  Chaerestratus  un- 

guem 
adrodens  ait  haec.     "an  siccis  dedecus  obstem 
cognatis  ?  an  rem  patriam  rumore  sinistra 
1  exalet  P1 :  exalat  P2.         2  pergant  a. 


1  A  quincunx  was  five  ounces,  of  which  there  were  twelve  to 
the  as,  or  pound.  In  calculating  interest,  five-twelfths  of  an 
as  on  100  asses  paid  monthly  was  equivalent  to  five  per  cent, 
per  annum  ;  similarly  eleven  ounces  a  month  would  bo  equi- 
valent to  eleven  per  cent. 


384 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   V 

humour  is  that  swelling  in  your  fevered  heart  so 
that  a  whole  gallon  of  hemlock  cannot  assuage  it? 
What?  You  to  go  skipping  over  the  sea?  You  to 
take  your  dinner  on  a  bench,  with  a  coiled  cable  for  a 
cushion,  while  a  dumpy  pot  exhales  for  you  the  fumes 
of  some  reddish  Veientine  wine  that  has  been  spoilt 
because  of  the  pitch  going  bad  ?  What  would  you 
be  at?  Is  it  that  the  money  which  you  have  been 
nursing  at  a  modest  five  per  cent.1  shall  go  on  until 
it  sweats  out  an  e-xorbitant  eleven  ?  No,  no ;  give 
your  Genius  a  chance !  Let  us  gather  our  sweets ! 
Our  life  is  our  own  to-day,  to-morrow  you  will  be 
dust,  a  shade,  and  a  tale  that  is  told.  Live  mindful 
of  death  ;  the  hour  flies ;  the  word  that  I  speak  is 
so  much  taken  from  it." 

154  What  are  you  to  do  ?  Two  hooks  are  pulling 
you  in  different  ways ;  are  you  to  follow  this  one  or 
that  ?  With  wavering  allegiance  jt>u  must  needs  sub- 
mit to  each  master  by  turns,  and  by  turns  break  away 
from  him.  Nor  if  you  have  once  made  a  stand,  and 
refused  the  imperious  command,  can  you  say,  "  Now 
I  have  broken  my  chain  "  ;  for  though  even  a  dog 
may  struggle  against  his  chain  and  break  it,  yet  as 
he  runs  away  a  good  length  of  it  will  be  trailing 
from  his  neck. 

i6i  a  Here,  Davus,  quick !  I  am  in  real  earnest ;  I 
mean2  to  bring  my  past  follies  to  an  end."  So 
says  Chaerestratus,  biting  his  nails  to  the  quick. 
"  What  ?  Am  I  to  be  a  stumbling  block  and  a 
scandal  to  my  excellent  relations  ?     Am  I  to  lose 

2  The  passage  which  follows  is  taken  from  the  Eunuchus  of 
Menander,  translated  by  Terence ;  Persius  gives  the  names 
Chaerestratus  and  Davus  as  in  the  Greek  play,  instead  of 
Phaedria  and  Parmenio  as  in  Terence. 

385 
c  c 


PERSI    SATVRA    V 

limen  ad  obscaenum  frangam,  dum  Chrysidis  udas    165 
ebrius  ante  fores  extincta  cum  face  canto  ? " 
"  euge  puer,  sapias,  dis  depellentibus  agnam 
percute."     "sed  censen,  plorabit,  Dave,  relicta?" 
"  nugaris  ;  solea,  puer,  obiurgabere  rubra, 
ne  trepidare  velis  atque  artos  rodere  casses  !  170 

nunc  ferus  et  violens  ;  at  si  vocet,  liaut  mora,  dicas 
<  quidnam  igitur  faciam?  nee  nunc,  cum  arcessat1 

et  ultro 
supplicet,  accedam  ?  '    si  totus  et  integer  illinc 
exieras,2  nee  nunc."     hie  hie  quod  quaerimus, 

hie  est, 
non  in  festuca,  lictor  quam  iactat  ineptus.  175 

Ius  habet  ille  sui,  palpo  quem  ducit  hiantem 
cretata  ambitio  ?     vigila  et  cicer  ingere  large 
rixanti  populo,  nostra  ut  Floralia  possint 
aprici  meminisse  senes  !  quid  pulchrius  ?  at  cum 
Herodis  venere  dies  unctaque  fenestra  180 

dispositae  pinguem  nebulam  vomuere  lucernae 
portantes  violas  rubrumque  amplexa  catinum 
1  accessor  a  :  accersor  L.         3  exieris  IA 


1  Another  word  for  the  vindicta,  the  rod  by  which  the 
elave  was  claimed  for  freedom. 

2  i.e.  the  man  ambitious  of  public  office.  All  candidates 
for  public  offices  had  their  toga  artificially  whitened,  and 
hence  were  called  candidati. 

3  Candidates  sought  to  gain  popularity  by  exhibiting  public 
games.  At  these  games,  especially  at  the  Floralia,  celebrated 
from  April  28  to  May  3,  peas  and  other  vegetables  were  often 
scrambled  for  by  means  of  tickets  (tesserae).  Horace  thus 
addresses  a  candidate  for  office  :  In  cicere  atque  /aba  bona  tu 

386 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   V 

alike  my  patrimony  and  my  character  by  singing 
drunken  songs,  with  my  torch  put  out,  before  my 
mistress's  dripping  door ?  "  "Bravo!  my  young  sir. 
Show  your  good  sense,  and  slay  a  lamb  to  the  Protect- 
ing Deities  !  "  "  But  do  you  think,  Davus,  that  she 
will  cry  if  1  leave  her?"  "You're  just  playing  the 
fool !  And  won't  you  be  catching  it,  my  boy,  with  her 
red  slipper,  just  to  teach  you  not  to  jib  or  to  gnaw  at 
the  tight-drawn  meshes  !  At  one  moment  you're  all 
bluster  and  indignation ;  next  moment,  if  she  call 
you  back,  you'll  be  saying,  '  What  am  I  to  dor 
Am  I  not  to  go  to  her  even  now,  when  she  sends  for 
me,  and  actually  implores  me  to  return  ? '  No,  no, 
say  I,  not  even  now,  if  once  you  have  got  away  from 
her  entire  and  heart-whole."  Here,  here  is  the  fi*ee- 
dom  we  are  looking  for,  not  in  the  stick 1  brandished 
by  that  nincompoop  of  a  lictor. 

176  And  that  white-robed2  wheedler  there,  dragged 
open-mouthed  by  his  thirst  for  office — is  he  his  own 
master?  Up  with  you  before  dawn,  and  deal  out 
showers  of  vetches  for  the  people  to  scramble  for, 
that  old  men  sunning  themselves  in  their  old  age  may 
tell  of  the  splendour  of  our  Floralia  ! 3  How  grand  ! 
But  when  Herod's  birthday4  comes  round,  when 
the  lamps  wreathed  with  violets  and  ranged  round 
the  greasy  window-sills  have  spat  forth  their  thick 
clouds  of  smoke,  when  the  floppy  tunnies'  tails  are 
curled  round  the  dishes  of  red  ware,  and  the  white 

perdasque  lupinis  (Sat.  n.  iii.  182).  These  games  were  at- 
tended by  great  license,  especially  among  women  (Ov.  Fast.  v. 
183-378  ;  Juv.  vi.  249-250).  Hence  the  mention  of  them  here 
leads  naturally  on  to  the  consideration  of  the  superstitious 
observances  mentioned  in  the  next  section  (179-188). 

4  Apparently  the  birthday  of  Herod  the  Great.  The 
Romans  regarded  the  Jews  as  practising  the  basest  of  all  super- 
stitions.    See  notes  on  Juv.  xiv.  96-106  and  vi.  542-547. 

387 
c  c  2 


PERSI    SATVRA   V 

cauda  natat  thynni,  tumet  alba  fidelia  vino, 
labra  moves  tacitus  recutitaque  sabbata  palles. 
turn  nigri  lemures  ovoque  pericula  rupto,  185 

turn  grandes  galli  et  cum  sistro  lusca  sacerdos 
incussere  deos  inflantis  corpora,  si  non 
praedictum  ter  mane  caput  gustaveris  alii. 
Dixeris  haec  inter  varicosos  centuriones, 
continuo  crassum  ridet  Pulfenius  ingens 
et  centum  Graecos  curto  centusse  licetur. 


190 


1  Isis  was  supposed  to   punish   offenders   with   blindness 
(Juv.  xiii.  93). 

2  The  idea  seems  to  be  that  of  causing  bodies  to  be  pos- 
sessed by  evil  spirits  as  were  the  Gadarene  swine. 


333 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE  V 

jars  are  swollen  out  with  wine,  you  silently  twitch 
your  lips,  turning  pale  at  the  sabbath  of  the  circum- 
cised. Then,  again,  there  are  the  black  spectres  and 
the  perils  of  the  broken  egg;  there  are  the  huge 
priests  of  Ceres,  and  the  one-eyed 1  priestess  with 
her  rattle,  who  drive  demons  into  you 2  that  make 
your  bodies  swell  if  you  do  not  swallow  the  prescribed 
morning  dose  of  three  heads  of  garlic.3 

189  jf  yOU  ta]k  jn  this  fashion  among  your  varicose 
Centurions,  the  hulking  Pulfennius  straightway  bursts 
into  a  huge  guffaw,  and  bids  a  clipped  hundred-penny 
piece  for  a  lot  of  a  hundred  Greeks.4 

3  Persius  piles  up  a  list  of  the  best  known  superstitions. 
Line  186  refers  especially  to  the  rites  of  Cybele,  with  her 
eunuch  priests  (Galli),   and  of  Isis.      See  Juv.  ii.   Ill  ;  vi 
512-13,  and  Hor.  Epp.  n.  ii.  20S-9. 

4  Persius  once  more  has  his  fling  at  the  muscular  soldier 
clans, 


3»9 


SUMMARY   OF  SATIRE  VI 

Has  winter  taken  you  back,  Caesius  Bassus,  to  your 
Sabine  home,  with  that  manly  lyre  of  yours  that 
strikes  every  note  so  fitly,  whether  grave  or  gay  ?  I 
am  wintering  in  my  own  Luna,  regardless  of  the 
multitude,  without  care  of  flocks,  without  envy  ot 
inferiors  richer  than  myself  (1-17).  Others  may 
think  differently ;  there  are  some  who  meanly  stint 
themselves  on  feast-days ;  others  waste  their  sub- 
stance in  good  living.  Use  what  you  have,  say  I ; 
thrash  out  your  harvest,  and  commit  a  new  crop 
to  the  soil  (18-26).  O,  but  a  friend  needs  help, 
you  say,  lying  shipwrecked  on  the  Bruttian  shore : 
then  break  off  a  bit  of  your  estate  for  him,  that 
he  may  not  want.  "What?  am  I  to  incur  the 
wrath  of  my  heir,  and  tempt  him  to  neglect  my 
funeral  rites?"  Bestius  does  well  in  condemning 
all  foreign  notions  (27-40).  Come,  my  heir,  let 
me  have  a  quiet  talk  with  you.  Have  you  heard 
that  there's  grand  news  from  the  front?  that  the 
Germans  have  had  a  tremendous  smashing,  and 
that  there  are  to  be  rejoicings  on  a  grand  scale? 
Woe  to  you  if  you  don't  join  in  !  I  am  going  to 
treat  the  multitude:  do  you  dare  stay  my  hand? 
(41-52).  Well,  if  you  refuse,  and  if  1  can  find  no 
legitimate  heir  of  my  own  ;  if  I  can  find  no  relation, 
male  or  female,  sprung  from  ancestors  of  mine  up  to 
the  fourth  generation,  I  will  go  to  Bovillae  and  find 

390 


SUMMARY   OF   SATIRE   VI 

one  on  the  beggars'  stand  (52-60).  Do  you  object 
to  my  spending  on  myself  some  part  of  what  is  my 
own  ?  You  Avill  have  the  rest :  take  what  I  leave 
you  and  be  thankful ;  don't  force  me  to  live  scurvily 
for  your  benefit,  and  don't  serve  up  to  me  wise 
sayings  about  living  on  one's  income  and  keeping 
one's  capital  intact.  Am  I  to  be  starved  in  order 
that  some  scape-grace  heir  of  yours  may  grow  a 
belly  ?  Sell  your  life  for  gain  ;  ransack  the  world  in 
your  quest  for  wealth  ;  let  it  come  back  to  you  with 
a  two-fold,  a  three-fold,  ay  a  ten-fold  increase  :  if 
you  can  tell  me  where  to  stop,  Chrysippus,  your 
fallacy  of  the  Sorites  will  have  been  solved  (61-80)  ! 


391 


SATVRA  VI 

Admovit  iam  bruma  foco  te,  Basse,  Sabino? 
iamne  lyra  et  tetrico  vivunt  tibi  pectine  chordae  ? 
mire  opifex  numeris  veterum  primordia  vocum 
atque  marem  strepitum  fidis  intendisse  Latinae, 
mox  iuvenes  agitare  iocos  et  pollice  honesto  5 

egregius x  lusisse  senex.2     mihi  nunc  Ligus  ora 
intepet  hibernatque3  meum  mare,  qua  latus  ingens 
dant  scopuli  et  multa  litus  se  valle  receptat. 
"  Lunai  portum,  est  operae,  cognoscite,  cives  "  : 
cor  iubet  hoc  Ennr,  postquam  destertuit  esse  10 

Maeonides,  quintus  pavone  ex  Pythagoreo. 

1  aegrcgius  a  :  aegraecius  P1  :  aegregios  P2L. 

2  series  P2L. 

5  Housm.  suggests  mite  tepet  vernatque  {I  c.  pp.  28-7). 


1  The  phrase  primordia  vocum  is  from  Lucretius,  iv.  531, 
who  uses  it  to  mean  the  hodily  "  first  beginnings  of  voices," 
i.e.  the  actual  corporeal  atoms  of  which  he  supposes  voices 
and  words  to  consist.  Here  it  seems  to  refer  to  the  beginnings 
of  Latin,  with  an  indication  of  the  manly  and  archaic  character 
of  the  style  of  Bassus, 

2  The  readings  vary  between  egregius  senex  and  egregios 
series.  Conington  translates  senex,  but  has  senes  in  his  text. 
Biich.  reads  egregius  senex. 

392 


^  tW«    <*&  H& 


SATIRE   VI 

Has  winter  yet  brought  thee,  Bassus,to  thy  Sabine 
hearth?  Are  thy  lyre  and  its  strings  still  alive 
under  thy  sturdy  quill?  Thou  that  art  so  rare  a 
craftsman  in  setting  to  numbers  the  beginnings  of 
our  ancient  tongue/  and  bringing  out  the  manly  notes 
of  the  Latin  lyre  ;  then  again  a  wonderful  old  man 
to  ply  the  youthful  jest,  and  sing  in  lighter  but  not 
indecorous  strains.2  To  me  now  the  Ligurian  coast, 
and  my  own  winter  sea,3  are  giving  all  their  warmth  : 
here  the  cliffs  form  a  mighty  wall,  with  a  deep  valley 
running  in  from  the  shore.  "'Tis  worth  your  while, 
O  citizens,  to  know  the  port  of  Luna "  : 4  so  did 
Ennius  speak  his  mind 5  when  he  had  given  up 
dreaming  that  he  was  Maeon's  son,  fifth  in  descent 
from  the  peacock  of  Pythagoras.6 

3  For  the  difficulties  raised  by  the  words  intepet  and 
hibcrnat,  see  Professor  Housman  (I.e.  p.  65). 

4  This  line  is  a  quotation  from  Ennius. 

5  The  Romans  considered  the  heart,  not  the  brain,  to  be 
the  seat  of  intelligence.  Cicero  quotes  from  Ennius  the 
phrase  egregie  cordatus  homo  =  "  a  clever  man." 

6  This  is  the  explanation  of  the  Scholiast,  who  imagines 
Ennius  in  his  dream  to  have  gone  through  five  transforma- 
tions, the  stages  being  (1)  Pythagoras,  (2)  a  peacock, 
(3)  Euphorbus,  (4)  Homer,  (5)  Ennius.  But  in  his  Annals 
Ennius  only  relates  that  he  had  seen  Homer  in  a  dream, 
who  told  him  he  had  once  been  a  peacock  ;  and  it  seems 
simpler  to  take  Quint  us  to  refer  to  Ennius'  own  praenomen, 
"  when  he  ceased  to  dream  himself  Homer,  becoming  Quintus, 
i.e.  himself  (Quintus  being  his  own  praenomen)  out  of  the 
Pythagorean  peacock." 


PERSI   SATVRA   VI 

Hie  ego  securus  volgi  et  quid  praeparet  auster 
infelix  pecori  securus  et  angulus  ille 
vicini  nostro  quia  pinguior ;  et  si  adeo  omnes 
ditescant  orti  peioribus,  usque  recusem  15 

curvus  ob  id  minui  senio  aut  cenare  sine  uncto 
et  signum  in  vapida  naso  tetigisse  lagoena. 
discrepet  his  alius,     geminos,  horoscope,  varo 
producis  genio  :  solis  natalibus  est  qui 
tinguat  olus  siccum  muria  vafer  in  calice  empta,      20 
ipse  sacrum  inrorans  patinae  piper  ;  hie  bona  dente 
grandia  magnanimus  peragit  puer.    utar  ego,  utar, 
nee  rhombos  ideo  libertis  ponere  lautus, 
nee  tenuis  sollers  turdarum l  nosse  salivas. 

Messe  tenus  propria  vive  et  granaria,  fas  est,       25 
emole.     quid  metuas?   occa,  et  seges  altera  in 

herba  est. 
at  vocat  officium,  trabe  rupta  Bruttia  saxa 
prendit  amicus  inops  remque  omnem  surdaque  vota 
condidit  Ionio,  iacet  ipse  in  litore  et  una 
ingentes  de  puppe  dei  iamque  obvia  mergis  30 

costa  ratis  lacerae :  nunc  et  de  caespite  vivo 
frange  aliquid,  largire  inopL,  ne  pictus  oberret 
caerulea  in  tabula,     sed  cenam  funeris  heres 
negleget  hatus,  quod  rem  curtaveris  ;  urnae 
ossa  inodora  dabit,  seu  spirent  cinnama  surdum       35 
1  tiirdarum~P1Sch.:  turdorum  aP2L. 

1  Adco  here  seems  to  be  used  in  the  old  Plautine  sense, 
-  "  Nay,  more,"  "  in  addition  to  that." 

2  Lit.  "goes  through  an  entire  property  with  his  teeth," 
i.e.  spends  it  in  gormandising. 

394 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE  VI 

12  Here  I  live,  heedless  of  the  mob,  or  of  what 
trouble  the  baleful  Auster  may  be  brewing  for  my 
herd,  untroubled  because  that  corner  of  my  neigh- 
bour's field  is  richer  than  my  own — ay,1  and  though 
men  of  baser  birth  than  I  were  growing  rich,  I  should 
still  refuse,  on  that  account,  to  be  bent  double  and 
grow  thin  with  vexation,  or  to  dine  without  a  savoury, 
or  explore  with  my  nose  the  seal  of  a  bottle  of  vapid 
wine.  Others  may  think  differently  :  one  horoscope 
will  bring  forth  twins  of  diverse  temperament.  One 
man,  on  birthdays  only,  moistens  his  dry  cabbage 
with  a  brine  which,  knowing  dog  that  he  is,  he 
has  bought  in  a  cup,  sprinkling  the  sacred  pepper 
over  the  platter  with  his  own  hand ;  another  is  a 
lordly  youth  who  runs  through2  a  whole  estate  in 
gormandising.  Enjoy  what  I  have,  say  I  ;  being 
neither  grand  enough  to  feed  my  freedmen  upon 
turbots,  nor  yet  epicure  enough  to  distinguish  the 
fine  flavour  of  a  hen  thrush. 

25  Use  up  your  crop,  and  grind  out  your  granaries, 
as  is  right.  Why  need  you  be  afraid  ?  harrow  again, 
and  a  second  crop  is  in  the  blade.  "  But  duty,"  you 
say,  "has  a  call  on  you  :  a  poor  shipwrecked  friend 
is  clutching  hold  of  the  rocks  of  Bruttium,  all  his 
goods  and  his  unheeded  prayers  sunk  in  the  Ionian 
Sea ;  he  himself  lies  upon  the  shore,  the  great  Gods 
from  the  ship's  poop  beside  him  ;  the  gulls  are  by  this 
time  flocking  to  the  shattered  timbers."  Well  then, 
break  off  a  bit  from  your  green  turf,  and  bestow  it  on 
your  needy  friend,  that  he  may  not  have  to  roam  the 
country  with  his  picture  on  a  sea-green  plank.  But 
your  heir,  you  say,  will  be  wrathful  that  you  have 
curtailed  your  property :  he  will  stint  the  funeral  feast, 
and  will  commit  your  bones  unscented  to  the  urn, 

395 


PERSI    SATVRA   VI 

seii  ceraso  peccent  casiae,  nescire  paratus : 
"tune  bona  incolumis  minuas  ?"  et  Bestius  ui-guet 
doctores  Graios  :  "  ita  fit ;  postquam  sapere  urbi 
cum  pipere  et  palmis  venit  nostrum  hoc  maris 

expers, 
faenisecae  crasso  vitiarunt  unguine  pultes."  40 

haec  cinere  ulterior  metuas  ?     at  tu,  meus  heres 
quisquis  eris,  paulum  a  turba  seductior  audi. 

O  bone,  num.  ignoras  ?  missa  est  a  Caesare  laurus 
insignem  ob  cladem  Germanae  pubis,  et  aris 
frigidus  excutitur  cinis  ac  iam  postibus  arma,  45 

iam  chlamydas  regum,  iam  lutea  gausapa  captis 
essedaque  ingentesque  locat  Caesonia  Rhenos. 
dis  igitur  genioque  ducis  centum  paria  ob  res 
egregie  gestas  induco.     quis  vetat  ?  aude. 
vae,  nisi  conives  !     oleum  artocreasque  popello        50 
largior.  an  prohibes?  die  clare    "non  adeo,"  inquis, 

1  The  name  Bestius  is  taken  from  the  corrector  Bestius  of 
Horace  {Epp.  I.  xv.  37),  and  is  used  to  represent  the  vulgar 
irrelevant  critic,  who  connects  all  the  evils  of  his  day  with 
the  bringing  in  of  new-fangled  Greek  learning  along  with 
foreign  articles  like  pepper,  dates,  etc.  "  Your  heir  will 
snarl,"  says  Persius,  "and  Bestius  will  talk  drivel;  but 
why  should  that  trouble  you  in  the  grave?"  Sapere  of 
course  has  a  punning  meaning,  referring  to  Greek  Philosophy 
as  well  as  to  the  smack  of  dates  and  pepper. 

2  The  words  maris  expers  are  taken  from  Horace  (Chium 
maris  expers,  )Sa<.ii.viii.l5),  but  the  context  is  quite  different 
from  the  Horatian.  They  have  been  usually  explained  as 
meaning  "destitute  of  salt,"  and  therefore  "tasteless,"  or 
foolish.  But  Professor  Housman  has  shown  that  Casaubon'a 
rendering,  "destitute  of  virility,"  gives  the  true  meaning 
(I.e.  pp.  27-28).     Bestius  complains  that  modern  Greek  ideas 

396 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   VI 

not  caring  to  enquire  whether  the  cinnamon  has  lost 
its  fragrance  or  the  casia  lias  been  adulterated  with 
cherry.  "What?  "  he  will  say,  "are  you  to  squander 
your  property,  and  not  suffer  for  it?"  And  then 
Bestius x  has  his  fling  at  the  Greek  philosophers  : 
"  It's  always  so  ;  ever  since  this  emasculated  2  wisdom 
of  ours  entered  the  city  along  with  dates  and  pepper, 
our  haymakers  have  spoilt  their  porridge  with  thick 
oils!" — What?  are  you  to  be  afraid  of  taunts  like 
these  on  the  other  side  of  the  grave  ?  And  as  for  you, 
my  heir,  whoever  you  may  be,  come  away  from  the 
crowd  for  one  moment  and  listen  : — 3 

43  Have  you  not  heard  the  news,  my  good  fellow  ? 
A  laurelled  despatch  has  arrived  from  Caesar  because 
of  a  splendid  victory  over  the  Germans ;  the  cold 
ashes  are  being  raked  out  from  the  altars  ;  Caesonia4 
is  contracting  for  arms  to  put  up  over  the  gates,  with 
regal  mantles,  and  yellow  perukes  for  the  prisoners, 
and  chariots,  and  life-sized  effigies  of  the  Rhine.5 
So  in  honour  of  the  Gods  and  the  Genius  of  our 
General,  I  am  putting  on  a  hundred  pairs  of  gladia- 
tors to  celebrate  these  grand  doings.  Who  dares  to 
say  me  nay  ?  Woe  to  you  if  you  don't  fall  in  with 
my  humour !  I  am  giving  the  mob  a  largess  of  oil 
and  bread  and  meat.  Do  you  forbid  ?  Speak  out 
plainly.    "  No,  no,"  you  say,  "  that  field  there  close  by 

have  destroyed  the  old  robustness  of  Rome  :  even  the  rustics 
have  corrupted  the  homely  porridge  by  mixing  with  it  scented 
oils. 

3  Persius  remonstrates  with  his  heir.  On  an  occasion  of 
national  rejoicing,  he  intends  to  spend  freely  and  patriotically 
(43-51).  4  Caligula's  wife. 

5  Besides  actual  trophies,  pictures  illustrative  of  the  recent 
campaign,  and  even  pictures  of  rivers,  were  carried  in  a 
triumphal  procession. 

397 


PERSI   SATVRA   VI 

"exossatus  ager  iuxta  est."     age,  si  mihi  nulla 
iam  reliqua  ex  ainitis,  patruelis  nulla,  proneptis 
nulla  manet  patrui,  sterilis  matertera  vixit, 
deque  avia  nihilum  superest,  accedo  Bovillas  55 

clivumque  ad  Virbi,  praesto  est  milii  Manius  heres. 
"progenies  terrae  ?"  quaere  ex  me  quis  mihi  quartus 
sit  pater:  haut  prompte,  dicam  tamen;  adde  etiam 

unum, 
unum  etiam :  terrae  est  iam  Alius,  et  mihi  ritu 
Manius  hie  generis  prope  maior  avunculus  exit.       60 
qui  prior  es,  cur  me  in  decursu  lampada  poscis  ? 
sum  tibi  Mercurius,  venio  deus  hue  ego  ut  ille 
pingitur.     an  renuis  ?  vis  tu  gaudere  relictis  ? 
"  dest  aliquid  summae."    minui  mihi,  sed  tibi  totum 

est 
quidquid  id  est.     ubi  sit,  fuge  quaerere,  quod  mihi 

quondam  65 

1  This  obscure  phrase  has  been  variously  explained.  Exos- 
satus  means  "cleared  of  bones."  Some  interpret  "cleared 
of  stones,"  i.e.  good  land  prepared  for  a  crop  ;  others  "  land 
from  which  the  bones,  the  strength  and  marrow  of  the  soil, 
have  been  taken,"  and  so  "poor  land."  In  line  51  Persius 
challenges  his  heir  to  reply.  Conington  takes  adeo  as  a 
verb  :  "I  decline  the  inheritance,"  says  the  heir  ;  to  which 
Persius  replies,  "  Here  is  a  field,  now,  cleared  for  ploughing," 
for  which  I  can  easily  find  an  heir.  Professor  Housman 
follows  an  interpretation  given  by  Hermann :  Persius  says 
to  his  heir,  "Do  you  forbid  my  extravagance?  Tell  me 
plainly."  "  I  would  rather  not,"  says  the  heir  ;  "  that  field 
close  by  is  far  too  full  of  stones";  i.e.  he  is  afraid  that  the 
populace  will  stone  him  if  he  lifts  his  voice  against  the  pro- 

39S 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE  VI 

is  not  sufficiently  cleared  of  stones."  l  Well  then,  if 
none  of  my  paternal  aunts  survives,  if  I  have  no  cousin 
on  my  father's  side,  if  my  paternal  uncle  has  left 
no  great-grand-daughters,  if  my  maternal  aunt  has 
died  without  issue,  and  there  is  no  living  descendant 
of  my  grandmother,  I  go  off  to  Bovillae  and  the 
hill  of  Virbius,2  and  there  I  find  in  Manius  an  heir 
ready  to  my  hand!  "What?  the  son  of  a  clod?" 
you  say.  Well,  just  ask  of  me  who  is  my  great- 
great-grandfather  :  I  could  tell  you  that,  though 
perhaps  not  in  a  moment ;  add  one  step  more, 
and  then  again  another,  and  by  that  time  you  come 
to  a  son  of  earth,  so  that  by  strict  lineal  ascent 
this  Manius  turns  out  to  be  a  kind  of  great-great- 
uncle.  Why  do  you,  who  are  before  me,  ask  for 
my  torch  while  I  am  still  running?3  I  am  for 
you  a  Mercury,  I  come  to  you  just  as  that  God 
is  represented  in  pictures.  Do  you  reject  the 
gift  ?  Won't  you  take  what  I  leave  you  and  be 
thankful? — "There  is  a  shortage  in  the  amount," 
you  say.  Yes ;  I  lessened  it  for  my  own  use  :  but 
what  remains,  whatever  it  is,  is  all  for  you.     Don't 

posed  entertainment  (I.e.  p.  29).     "Very  well," says  Persius, 
"  I  can  find  another  heir  elsewhere." 

2  i.e.  the  clivus  Aricinus,  near  Bovillae,  which  was  a  great 
resort  for  beggars.  Virbius,  another  name  for  Hippolytus, 
was  worshipped  at  Aricia  along  with  Diana. 

3  This  line  is  evidently  based  on  Lucretius,  ii.  77 :  Inque 
brevi  spatio  mulantur  saecla  animantvm,  Et  quasi  cursores 
vitai  lampada  tradunt.  The  idea  is  that  of  passing  on  a 
blazing  torch  from  one  hand  to  another  ;  but  it  is  not  easy 
to  reconcile  the  words  qui  prior  es  with  the  accounts  given  of 
the  Athenian  \a/j.-naSr]:popia.  See  Diet.  Ant.  It  is  not  im- 
possible that  Persius,  whose  phrases  are  taken  from  books 
rather  than  life,  copied  the  phrase  of  Lucretius  without  quite 
realising  its  meaning. 

399 


PERSI    SATVRA   VI 

legarat  Tadius,  neu  dicta  repone  x  paterna, 

"  faenoris  accedat  merces,  hinc  exime  sumptus," 

"quid  reliqumest?"    reliqum?  nunc  nunc  inpen- 

sius  ungue, 
ungue,  puer,  caules  !     milii  festa  luce  coquatur 
urtica  et  fissa  fumosum  sinciput  aure,  70 

ut  tuus  iste  nepos  olim  satur  anseris  extis, 
cum  morosa  vago  singultiet  inguine  vena, 
patriciae  inmeiat  vulvae  ?  mini  trama  figurae 
sit  reliqua,  ast  illi  tremat  omento  popa  venter  ? 
Vende    animam    lucro,   mercare    atque    excute 

sollers  '5 

omne  latus  mundi,  ne  sit  praestantior  alter 
Cappadocas  rigida  pinguis  plausisse  catasta, 
rem  duplica.  "  feci ;  iam  triplex,  iam  mihi  quarto, 
iam  decies  redit  in  rugam."    depunge  ubi  sistam : 
inventus,  Chrysippe,  tui  finitor  acervi.  80 

1  repone  L  and  old  edd.  Biich.  has  neu  dicta  "  pone  paterna 
.  .  .  sumptus."  "quid  reliqum  est?"  Housm.  suggests 
neu  die  ita,  "pone  paterna  .  .  .  reliqum  est."  reliqum?  and 
explains,  "Do  not  say  'state  what  you  inherited,  add  in- 
terest, subtract  expenditure,  and  see  how  much  is  left.'  Left, 
quotha?"  {I.e.  p.  31).  ita  then  means  "as  follows."  Biich. 
takes  pone  to  mean  "invest." 

1  Cappadocian  slaves,  being  tall,  were  much  prized  as 
litter-bearers. 


400 


PERSIUS,  SATIRE   VI 

ask  where  is  the  sum  that  Tadius  left  me  long  ago, 
and  don't  serve  up  to  me  your  paternal  saws: — "  Let 
interest  accrue  on  your  capital,  and  take  your  ex- 
penses out  of  that." — "Yes,  and  what  will  be  left?" 
"  Left,"  do  you  ask  ?  Here,  boy,  drench  the  cabbage 
with  oil,  and  d — n  the  expense  !  Am  I  to  have  my 
holiday  dinner  off  nettles  and  a  smoked  pig's  cheek 
with  his  ear  split  through,  in  order  that  some  day  or 
other  your  young  ne'er-do-weel  may  regale  himself 
on  a  goose's  liver?  .  .  .  Am  I  to  be  reduced  to  a 
thread-paper  while  his  belly  is  to  wag  with  fat  like 
that  of  a  priest  ? 

•6  Go,  sell  your  soul  for  gain  ;  buy  and  sell ;  ransack 
cunningly  every  corner  of  the  earth,  let  no  one  out- 
strip you  in  patting  fat  Cappadocian 1  slaves  in  their 
pen ;  turn  every  coin  into  two.  "  Done  already," 
you  say ;  "  with  a  threefold,  fourfold,  ay,  and  a  ten- 
fold increase."  2  Mark  the  point  at  which  I  am  to 
stop,  and  the  finisher  of  your  heap,3  Chrysippus,  will 
have  been  found ! 

2  Ruga  is  a  "crease,"  or  "fold,"  so  that  redire  decies  in 
rugam  expresses  exactly  "a  ten-fold  increase."  Many  editors 
have  wrongly  explained  the  word  as  the  fold  or  sinus  in  the 
toga,  and  so  =  "a  purse." 

3  Referring  to  the  well-known  Sorites,  the  fallacy  of  the 
heap  :  Dwm  cadat  elusus  ratione  mentis  acervi  (Hor.  Epp.  II. 
i.  47).  The  analogous  fallacy  demonstrating  the  impossibility 
of  motion  was  met  by  the  famous  "  solvitur  ambulando." 


401 
D    O 


INDEXES 


D    D    2 


INDEX   TO   JUVENAL 


Abdera,  p.  194  n.,  p.  197  n. 

Accius,  VI.  70 

Acestes,  VII.  235 

Achilles,  in.  280,  VII.  210,  VIII.  271, 

X.    256,   XI.    30,   XIV.    214,   and 

notes  on  pp.  7,  146,  155,  181,  222 
Acilius,  iv.  94 
Acilius  Ulabrio  p.  64  n. 
Acoeuoetus,  p.  155  n. 
Actium,  II.  109,  p.  178  n. 
Actor,  II.  100,  p.  25  n. 
Aeacus,  I.  10,  vm.  270,  p.  181  n. 
Aegean  Sea,  p.  8  n. 
Aelia,  VI.  72 

Aemilianus,  vm.  3,  p.  158  n. 
Aemilius,  VII.  124,  p.  147  n. 
Aemilius  Juncus,  p.  291  n. 
Aeneas,   I.    162,   V.    139,    XV.    67, 

p.  73  n.,  p.  225  n. 
Aeolus,  I.  8 
Aethiopia,  X.  150 
Aetna,  p.  159  n. 
Airanius,  p.  294  n. 
Atrica,  VII.  149,  vm.  120,  X.  148, 

and  notes  on  pp.  6,  148,  167 
Agamemnon,  xiv.  286,  and  notes  on 

pp.  175,  244,  285 
Aganippe,  vn.  6 
Agathyrsians,  XV.  125 
Agave,  VII.  87 

Agrigentum,  p.  123  n.,  p.  164  n. 
Agrippa,  VI.  159 
Agrippa  II.,  p.  95  n. 
Agrippa,  Portico  of,  p.  95  n. 
Agrippina,     VI.     620,     p.     80  n., 

p.  134  n. 
Ajax,    VII.    115,   X.    84,   XIV.    213, 

XV.    65,   and  notes  on  pp.   146, 

199,  222,  285 
Alabanda,  in.  70 
Alba,  IV.  61,  V.  83 
Alban  Mount,  p.  2*0  n. 
Albanian,  xm.  214 
Albina,  in.  130 


Alcestis,  vi.  652 

Alcinous,  XV.  15 

Alexander,  xiv.  311,  p.  206  n. 

Alledius,  v.  118 

Allia,  p.  177  n. 

Allobrogicus,  vm.  13 

Allobrogus,  p.  155  n. 

Alps,  X.  152,  166,  XIII.  162 

Amphion,  VI.  174,  p.  97  n. 

Amydon,  in.  69 

Anchises,  VII.  234 

Ancona,  rv.  40 

Ancus,  v.  57 

Andromache,  VI.  503,  p.  124  n. 

Andros,  III.  70 

Antaeus,  m.  89,  p.  38  n. 

Antony,  x.  123,  p.  19  n.,  p.  166  n. 

Anticyra,  XIII.  97 

Antigone,  vm.  229 

Antilochus,  X.  253 

Antiochus,  III.  98 

Antiphates,  xiv.  20 

Antonia,  p.  175  w. 

Antonius,  vm.  105 

Anubis,  VI.  534,  p.  126  n. 

Apicius,  IV.  23,  XI.  3 

Apis,  p.  160  n. 

Apollo,  I.  128,  VI.  171,  174,  VII.  37, 

XIII.  203,  and  notes  on  pp.  13,  97, 

142,  181 
Appian  Way,  p.  32  n. 
Apulia,  IX.  55 
Aqua  Marcia,  p.  33  n. 
Aquinum,  m.  319,  p.  57  ij. 
Arabarch,  I.  130 
Arabia,  p.  231  n. 
Arachne,  II.  56 
Archigenes,  VI.  236,  Xln.  98,  XIV. 

252 
Argonauts,  p.  95  n. 
Aristotle,  n.  6,  p.  258  n. 
Armillatus,  IV.  53 
Arpinum,  vm.  237,  245 
Artaxata,  n.  170 


4o5 


INDEX  TO   JUVENAL 


Artemis,  p.  97  n.,  p.  297  n. 

Artorius,  ill.  29 

Arviragus,  IV.  127 

Asia,  v.  56,  vn.  14,  X.  260 

Assaracus,  X.  259 

Assouan,  p.  230  n. 

Astrea,  vi.  19,  p.  84  n. 

Asturicus,  III.  212 

Asylus,  VI.  267 

Athene,  p.  22  n. 

Athens,  VI.  187,  VII.  205,  X.  127, 

XV.  110,  p.  25  n.,  p.  136  n. 
Athos,  X.  174 

Atlas,  VIII.  32,  XI.  24,  XIII.  48 
Atticus,  XI.  1 
Aufldius,  IX.  25 
Augustus,  p.  21  n. 
Aurelia,  v.  98,  p.  77  n. 
Aurunca,  I.  20 
Automedon,  I.  61 
Autonoe,  VI.  72 
Aventine,  in.  85 
Azov,  p.  297  n. 

Babylon,  p.  206  n.,  p.  207  re. 

Bacchanals,  II.  3 

Baetica,  XII.  42,  p.  238  n. 

Baiae,  in.  4,  XI.  49 

Baptae,  II.  92 

Baptism,  p.  272  n. 

Barea,  vn.  91 

Barea  Soranus,  p.  41  re. 

Basilus,  vn.  145,  146,  147,  X.  222 

Bassus,  p.  154  n. 

Batavians,  vm.  51 

Bathyllus,  VI.  63 

Bebriacum,  n.  106 

Bellerophon,  X.  325,  p.  217  rt. 

Bellona,  IV.  124,  VI.  511 

Bolus,  VI.  655,  p.  137  n. 

Berenice,  VI.  156,  p.  96  m. 

Bibula,  VI.  142 

Bithynia,  vn.  15,  p.  205  n. 

Bona  Dea,p.  18n.,p.  24  w.,  p.  Ill  n. 

Bootes,  V.  23 

Bosporus,  p.  290n. 

Brigante3,  XIV.  196 

Britain,  XV.  Ill 

Britannicus,  vi.  124,  p.  92  re. 

Britons,  II.  161,  XV.  124 

Brutidius,  x.  83 

Brutus,  IV.   103,  V.   37,  VIU.   182, 

xrv.  43,  p.  64  re. 
Bulla,  p.  83  n.,  p.  249  n. 

406 


Caeus,  v.  125 

Caecilius,  xvi.  46 

Caedicius,  xni.  197 

Caesar,  vn.  1,  vm.  171,  xu.  106, 

p.  24  re.,  p.  201  re. 
Caesonia,  VI.  616 
Caieta,  xiv.  87 
Calagurris,  p.  294  n. 
Calenian  Wine,  I.  70,  p.  8  re. 
Caligula,  and  notes  on  pp.  6,  133 

154,  155 
Calliope,  IV.  34 
Calpe,  XIV.  279 
Calvina,  in.  133 
Calvinus,  xni.  5 
Camerini,  vn.  90 
Camerinus,  vm.  38 
Camillus,  II.  154,  XVI.  15 
Campania,  X.  283 
Campus  Martius,  p.  28  n.,  p.  126  re. 
Campi  Raudii,  p.  214  n. 
Cannae,  VII.  163,  X.  165,  XI.  200 
Canopus,  I.  26,  VI.  84,  XV.  46 
Cantabrian,  XV.  108 
Cantabrians,  p.  296  n. 
Captatores,  p.  76  n. 
Capito,  vm.  93,  p.  246  re. 
Capitolinij  II.  145 
Cappadocia,  vn.  15 
Capreae,  p.  198  n. 
Capri,  X.  72,  93 
Carflnia,  II.  69 
Carpophorus,  VI.  199 
Carrinas,  p.  154  n.  # 

Carthage,  vi.  171,  x.  277 
Cassandra,  x.  262 
Cassius,  v.  37 

Castor,  xm.  152,  XIV.  260,  p.  282  n. 
Catana,  p.  159  n. 
Catiena,  hi.  133 
Catiline,  II.  27,  vm.  231,  X.  287, 

XIV.  41,  p.  177  n.,  p.  215  n. 
Cato,  II.  40,  XI.  90 
Catulla,  X.  322 
Catullus,  iv.  113,  vm.  186,  xn.  29, 

37,  93,  XIII.  Ill,  p.  84  n. 
Catulus,  11.  146,  in.  30,  p.  179  re. 
Cecropid,  vm.  53 
Cecropidae,  vm.  46 
Cecrops,  p.  25  n. 
Celadus,  vn.  215 
Celsus,  VI.  245 
Censennia,  VI.  136 
Census  Equestris,  p.  10  re. 
Centaur,  p.  155  re. 


INDEX  TO  JUVENAL 


Centaurs,  p.  2  n.,  p.  239  n. 

Centurion,  Senior,  p.  278  n. 

Ceres,  III.  320,  VI.  50,  X.  112,  XIV. 
219,  263,  XV.  141,  p.  57  n. 

Cethegus,  n.  27,  vra.  231,  x.  287, 
p.  177  n. 

Chaerippus,  vm.  95,  p.  165  n. 

Charon,  p.  165  n. 

Charybdis,  v.  102,  xv.  17 

Chatti,  IV.  147,  p.  68  n. 

Chiron,  in.  205,  p.  155  n. 

Christian  martyrs,  I.  155 

Chrysippus,  n.  5,  xm.  184 

Chrysogonus,  VI.  74,  vn.  176, 
p.  152  n. 

Circe,  XV.  21,  p.  290  n. 

Circeii,  iv.  140 

Cicero,  VII.  139,  214,  X.  114,  and 
notes  on  pp.  145,  154,  167,  177, 
202 

Cicero,  the  Allobrogian,  vn.  214 

Cilicia,  notes  on,  pp.  164,  166,  282 

Cilicians,  vm.  94 

Cirabrians,  XV.  124 

Cimbri,  vm.  249,  251,  p.  179  n. 

Cirrha,  vn.  64 

Claudius,  V.  147,  VI.  115,  XIV.  330, 
and  notes  on  pp.  50,  51,  134,  144, 
176,  217,  241,  270,  288 
Cleanthes,  II.  7,  p.  17  n. 
Cleopatra,  II.  109 
Clio,  VII.  7,  p.  141  n. 
Clitumnus,  xn.  13 
Clodius,  II.  27,  VI.   338,  345,  and 

notes  on  pp.  18,  24,  111,  181 
Clotho,  IX.  135 
Cluvienus,  i.  80 
Clytemnaestra,  VI.  656,  p.   137  »., 

p.  175  n. 
Codes,  vm.  264 
Codrus,  III.  203,  208 
Colchis,  XIV.  114 
Colline  Gate,  p.  106  «. 
Color,  p.  105  n. 
Concord,  Temple  of,  p.  13  n. 
Conopeum,  p.  88  n. 
Coptus,  XV.  28 
Coranus,  xvi.  53    " 
Corbulo,  in.  251 
Cordus,  I.  2 
Corinthus,  vm.  197 
Cornelia,  vi.  167 
Corsica,  v.  92 
Corus,  x.  180 
Corvinus,  1. 108,  Tin.  5,  xn.  1,  93 


Corybants,  v.  25 

Corycus,  p.  282  n. 

Corydon,  ix.  102 

Coryphaeus,  vm.  62 

(Jossus,  in.  184,  vin.  21,  x.  202 

Cotta,  V.  109,  vn.  95,  p.  145  n. 

Cotytto,  II.  92,  p.  25  n. 

Crassi,  x.  108 

Cremera,  II.  155 

Crepereius  Pollio,  ix.  6 

Crete,  xiv.  270,  p.  249  n.,  p.  284  n. 

Creticus,  n.  67,  78,  VIII.  38 

Cretonius,  xiv.  86 

Crispinus,  I.  27,  IV.  1,  14,  108 

Crispus,  IV.  81,  p.  63  n. 

Croesus,  x.  274,  xiv.  328 

Cumae,  in.  2,  321,  ix.  57 

Curii,  II.  3 

Curius,  n.  153,  vm.  4,  XI.  78 

Curtius,  XI.  34 

Cyane,  vm.  162 

Cybele,  n.  Ill,  xiv.  263,  p.  234  n. 

Cyclades,  p.  129  n. 

Cyclopes,  xv.  18 

Cylindrus,  p.  22  n. 

Cydnus,  p.  41  n. 

Cymbeline,  p.  67  n. 

Cynics,  xm.  121,  122,  p.  254  n. 

Cynthia,  vi.  7,  p.  84  n. 

Daedalus,  m.  25,  p.  7  n.,  p.  38  n. 

Damasippus,  vm.  185 

Danaids,  p.  137  n. 

Danaus,  p.  137  n. 

Danube,  vm.  170 

Decii,  vm.  254,  25S,  Xiv.  239 

Delta,  p.  292  n. 

Demetrius,  in.  99 

Democritus,     x.     34,     p.     194  n.. 

p.  197  n. 
Demosthenes,  x.  114,  p.  203  n. 
Dendyra,  p.  291  n. 
Deucalion,  i.  81 
Diana,  in.  320,  X.  292,  XV.  8 
Dido,  VI.  435 
Diogenes,  p.  286  n. 
Diomede,  I.  53,  p.  293  n. 
Dion  Cassius,  p.  198  n. 
Dionysus,  p.  106  n.,  p.  142  n. 
Diphilus,  m.  120 
Dolabella,  vm.  106,  p.  166  n. 
Domitian,  notes  on  pp.  5,  19,  60.  65 

69,  115,  144,  257 
Domitius,  vm.  228 


407 


INDEX  TO  JUVENAL 


Doris,  III.  94 

Drusi,  vni.  40 

Drusu3,  ill.  238,  VIII.  21 


Furies,  XIII.  51,  xrv.  285,  XVI.  46 

Fuscinus,  xiv.  1 

Fuscus,  iv.  112,  xn.  45,  p.  65  n. 


Enro,  p.  294  n. 

Echlon,  VI.  76 

Egeria,  III.  17  , 

Egypt,  VI.  527,  XV.  2,  45,  116,  and 

notes  on  pp.  13,  258,  291 
Electra,  vni.  218 
Elephants,  p.  242  n. 
Eleusinian  mysteries,  p.  298  n.     . 
Elpenor,  XV.  22 
Endromis,  p.  102  n. 
Endymion,  X.  318 
England,  p.  278  n. 
Epictetus,  p.  235  n. 
Epicurus,  XIII.  122,  XIV.  319 

Eppia,  VI.  82,  104,  114 

Equites,  p.  200  n. 

Eriphyle,  VI.  655,  p.  137  n. 

Esquiline,  in.  71,  v.  78,  XI.  51 

Etruria,  XIII.  62,  p.  199  n. 

Euganei,  p.  159  n. 

Euphranor,  in.  217 

Euphrates,  I.  104,  vni.  61 

Europa,  Vin.  34 

Eurus,  X.  180 

Euryalus,  vi.  81 

Evander,  XI.  61,  p.  224  n. 

Fabii,  n.  146,  p.  31  n.,  p.  159  n. 
Fabrateria,  III.  224 
Fabricius,  IX.  142,  XI.  91 
Fabius,  VII.  95,  vni.  14,  191,  XI.  90, 

p.  159  n. 
Fabius  Gurges,  vi.  266 
Fabulla,  II.  68 
Faesidius,  xni.  32 
Falernian,  iv.  138,  an.  216,  p.  8  n. 
Faustus,  VII.  12,  p.  168  n. 
Fidenae,  VI.  57,  X.  100,  p.  201  n. 
Flaminian  Way,  I.  61,  171 
Flavii,  IV.  37 

Floralia,  VI.  250,  XIV.  262,  p.  102  n. 
Fonteius,  xn.  17 
Fortune,  in.  40,  x.  366,  xiv.  316, 

p.  132  n.,  p.  199  n.,  p.  270  n. 
Forum,  p.  282  n. 
Forum  Augusti,  p.  282  n. 
Forum  Boarium,  p.  107  n. 
Fronto,  I.  12 
Frusino,  in.  224 

408 


Gabba,  V.  4,  p.  69  n. 

Gabii,  ill.  192,  VI.  56,  VII.  4,  X.  100, 

p.  201  n. 
Gades,  x.  1 
Gaeticulus,  VIII.  26 
Galba,  II.  104,  VIII.  5,  222,  p.  128  n., 

p.  176 n. 
Galerus  or  -um,  p.  174  n. 
Galla,  1.  125 
Gallicus,  XIII.  157 
Gallitta,  xn.  99,  113 
Gallius,  xvi.  1 
Gallus,  VII.  144 
Ganges,  x.  2 
Ganymede,  V.  59,  IX.  22 
Gaul,  VII.  16, 148,  VIII.  116,  XV.  H1 

p.  148  n.,  p.  177  n. 
Gauls,  XI.  113 
Gaurus,  IX.  57,  p.  164  n. 
German,  p.  68  n. 
Germans,  xm.  164 
Gibraltar,  p.  284  n. 
Gillo,  I.  40 
Glaphyrus,  VI.  77 
Gorgon,  in.  118,  xn.  4,  p.  230  n. 
Gracchi,  I.  24,  VI.  168 
Gracchus,  n.  117,  p.  27  n.,  II.  143, 
vni.  201,  210,  and  notes  on  pp.  27, 
29,  174 
Gradivus,  11.  127 
Greece,  xiv.  240,  p.  17  n. 
Greeks,  ill.  61 
Guadalquiver,  p.  238  n. 
Gyara,  1.  73,  x.  170 


Hades,  p.  2  n. 

Haemus,  III.  99,  VI.  198 

Hamillus,  X.  224 

Hammon,  VI.  555 

Hannibal,  VI.   169,   291,  VII.   161, 

X.     147,    XII.     108,    p.     106  n., 

p.  297  n. 
Hebe,  p.  249  n. 
Hector,  X.  259,  p.  124  n. 
Hecuba,  p.  213  n. 
Hedymeles,  vi.  383 
Helicon,  p.  138  n. 
Heliodorus,  VI.  373 
Helvidius,  V.  36 


INDEX  TO  JUVENAL 


Hercules,  I.  52,  in.  89,  v.  125,  vni. 

14,  X.  361,  XIII.  43,  82,  151,  XIV. 

90,  280,  and  notes  on  pp.  16,  38, 

159,  224,  225,  270 
Hermarchus,  in.  120 
Ilermes,  vm.  53 
Hermione,  p.  175  «. 
Herodotus,  p.  298  n. 
Hesperides,  xiv.  114,  p.  80  n. 
Hibernia,  VI.  53 
Hippolytus,  X.  325,  p.  217  n. 
Hirpinus,  Vin.  63 
Hirrus,  x.  222 
Hispulla,  VI.  74,  xn.  11 
Hister,  II.  58 
Homer,  VI.   437,  VII.   38,  X.   246, 

XV.  69,  p.  175  n.,  p.  258  n. 
Horace,  VII.  62,  227,  p.  7  n.,p.  145  n. 
Horatius  Codes,  p.  180  n. 
Humber,  p.  278  n. 
Hyacinth,  VI.  110 
Hylas,  I.  164 
Hymettus,  xni.  185 


Icarus,  p.  7  n. 

Iceland,  p.  297  ft. 

Ida,  xni.  41,  p.  249  n. 

Iliad,  XI.  181 

Ilion,  X.  261 

Io,  VI.  526 

Iphigenia,  XII.  119,  p.  245  ft. 

Isaeus,  III.  74,  p.  36  n. 

Isis,  VI.  489,  529,  IX.  22,  XII.  28, 

XIII.  93,  p.  126  ft. 
Italians,  p.  72  n. 
Italy,  X.  153,  XII.  78,  p.  214  ». 
Itys,  p.  136  n. 
lulus,  VIII.  42,  XII.  70 
Ixion,  p.  250  ft. 


Janus,  VI.  386,  394 

Jason,  vi.  153,  p.  2  n.,  p.  95  ft. 

Jerusalem,  p.  96  n. 

Jews  in.  14,  and  notes  on  pp.  127, 

270,  271,  272 
Johnson's  London,  p.  37  n. 
John  the  Baptist,  p.  272  n. 
Joseph,  p.  217  n. 
Josephus,  p.  96  n. 
Jove,  VI.  15,  VIII.  156,  X.  38,  268, 

XIV.  81,  206,  271 
Julia,  n.  32,  p.  19  n.,  p.  161  n. 
Julian  Law,  II.  37,  VI.  38,  p.  21  n. 


Julius  Alexander,  p.  13  n. 

Juncus,  xv.  27 

Juno,  II.   98,  VI.   48,  619,  VII.   32, 

XIII.  40,  p.  126  ft.,  p.  302  n. 
Jupiter,   VI.    59,   X.    188,  XI.   116, 

XII.  89,  XIII.  41,  114 
Juverna,  II.  160 


Lachesis,  IX.  136 

Ladas,  XIII.  97 

Laelius,  xrv.  195 

Laenas,  v.  98,  p.  77  n. 

Laertes,  p.  212  n. 

Laestrygones,  xv.  18,  p.  265  n. 

Lagos,  VI.  83 

Lamiae,  IV.  154 

Lapithae,  p.  2  n. 

Lares,  IX.  137,  XII  89, 113,  xni.  233 

Larga,  XIV.  25 

Laterani,  x.  17 

Lateranus,  VIII.  147,  167 

Latinus,  VI.  44 

Latin  War,  p.  179  n. 

Latin  Way,  v.  55 

Latium,  VI.  637,  XII.  103,  p.  201  n. 

Latona,  VI.  176,  x.  292 

Laurentum,  p.  242  n. 

Laureolus,  VIII.  187 

Lavinum,  xil.  71 

Leda,  VI.  63 

Lentulus,  VI.  80,  VII.  95,  vm.  187, 

X.  286 
Lentulus  Spinther,  p.  145  n. 
Lepidus,  VI.  265,  vni.  9,  p.  19  n. 
Lesbia,  VI.  7,  p.  84  n. 
Leto,  p.  97  n. 
Leucas,  vm.  241,  p.  178  n. 
Lex  Cincia,  p.  147  «. 
Libya,  V.  119,  p.  236  n. 
Licinus,  I.  109,  XIV.  306,  p.  11  n. 
Lipari,  p.  249  n. 
Livy,  p.  195  n. 
Longinus,  X.  16 

Lucan,  VII.  79,  p.  143  n.,  p.  271  n. 
Lucifer,  vm.  12 
Lucilius,  I.  165,  p.  4n.,  p.  15  n. 
Lucretia,  X.  293 
Lucusta,  I.  71 
Lugdunum,  I.  44 
Luperci,  p.  28  n. 
Lycisca,  VI.  123 
Lyde,  n.  141 

Lydia,  p.  213  n.,  p.  286  n. 
Lyons,  p.  6  n. 


4C9 


INDEX   TO   JUVENAL 


Macedonia,  p.  178  n. 

Machaera,  vn.  9 

Maecenas,  I.  66,  vn.  94,  xn.  39 

Maenads,  vi.  317 

Maeotis,  rv.  42 

Mamerci,  vm.  192 

Manilia,  VI.  243 

Manius  Curius  Dentatus,  p.  226  n. 

Marcelli,  II.  145 

Marius,  I.  49,  vin.  120,  p.  179  n. 

Maro,  XI.  180 

Mars,  I.  8,  II.  31,  VI.  59,  X.  314, 

xni.  79,  113,  Xiv.  261,  xvi.  5, 

and  notes  on  pp.  27,   132,  228, 

282 
Marsyas,  IX.  2 
Massa,  I.  35 

Matho,  I.  32,  VII.  129,  XI.  34 
Maura,  VI.  307,  X.  224 
Medea,  p.  136  n. 
Med'illina,  VI.  322 
Megalesian  games,  p.  234  n. 
Melanippa,  vin.  229 
Meleager,  v.  115 
Memnon,  xv.  5,  p.  289  n. 
Memphis,  XV.  122 
Menoeceus,  XIV.  240 
Mentor,  Vin.  104 
Meroe,  VI.  528,  XIII.  163 
Messalina,  x.  333,  and  notes  on  vv, 

92,  217,  288 
Messaliuus,  p.  65  n. 
Meta,  p.  130  n. 
Metellus,  VI.  265,  XV.  109,  p.  42  n. 

p.  296  n. 
Mevia,  I.  22 

Miletus,  VI.  296.  v.  259  n. 
Milo,  II.  26,  p.  '18  n. 
Minerva,    III.    139,    219,    X.    116, 

XIII.  82 
Minturnae,  X.  276 
Misenum.  p.  32  n. 
Mitliridates,   xiv.    252,   p.    137  n 

p.  213  n. 
Modia,  III.  130 
Molossians,  xiv,  162 
Monychus,  I.  11 
Mons  Viminalis,  p.  36  n. 
Montanus,  iv.  107,  131 
Moors,  xiv.  196 
Moses,  xiv.  102 
Mucius,  I.  154,  vm,  264 
Murmillo,  p.  89  n. 
Muses,  vn.  37,  p,  138  n. 
Mycale,  v.  141 

4IO 


Mycenae,  xn.  127 
Myron,  vm.  102 

Nabataei,  p.  231  n. 

Naevolus,  ix.  1,  91 

Naids,  p.  16  n. 

Narcissus,  xrv.  329,  p.  288  n. 

Natta,  VIII.  96,  p.  165  n. 

Neptune,  xm.  81,  152 

Nero,  rv.  137,  vm.  72,  193,  212, 
223,  X.  15,  308,  XII.  129,  and 
notes  on  pp.  8,  15,  51,  72,  121, 
144,  173,  174,  175,  176,  177,  193 

Nestor,  vi.  326,  xn.  127,  p.  210  n., 
p.  212  n. 

Nile,  I.  26',  VI.  83,  X.  149,  xm.  27, 
XV.  123,  and  notes  on  pp.  5,  128, 
248,  258,  292 

Nineveh,  p.  220  n. 

Ninus,  p.  26  n. 

Niobe,  VI.  177,  p.  96  n. 

Niphates,  vi.  411 

Nortia,  X.  74,  p.  199  n. 

Novius,  xn.  Ill 

Numa,  III.  12,138,  VI.  342,  VIII.  156 

Numantia,  p.  158  n. 

Numidia,  p.  209  n. 

Numitor,  vn.  74,  vm.  93 

Nysa,  vn.  64 

Octavia,  p.  175  n. 

Octavius,  vm.  242,  p.  19  n. 

Ogulnia,  VI.  352 

Olympian  games,  p.  252  n. 

Olynthus,  xn.  47 

Ombi.  xv.  35,  p.  291  n. 

Ombites,  xv.  75 

Oppia,  X.  220,  322 

Orcades,  11.  161 

Orestes,  1.  6,  vm.  220,  and  notes  on 

pp.  175,  284,  304 
Orontes,  in.  62 
Osiris,  VI.  541,  vm.  29,  p.  120  n., 

p.  160  n. 
Ostia,  vm.  171,  p.  241  n. 
Otho,  11.  99,  VI.  559,  xiv.  324,  and 

notes  on  pp.  25,  26,  44,  128 
Ovid,  p.  98,  n.,  p.  145  n. 

Paccius,  vn.  12 
Partus,  xn.  99 
Pactolus,  Xiv.  299 
Pacuvius,  XII.  125,  128 
Pacuvius  Hister,  xn.  Ill 


INDEX  TO   JUVENAL 


Palaemon,  VI.  452,  vn.   215,  219, 

p.  120,  n.,  p.  155  n. 
Palfurius,  iv.  53 
Pallas,  I.  109,  and  notes  on  pp.  11. 

157,  236 
Pauclion,  p.  136  n. 
Pansa,  vm.  96,  p.  165  n. 
Paris,  VI.  87,  vn.  87,  x.  264,  xn. 

44,  p.  144  «.,  p.  154  n. 
Parrhasius,  vm.  102 
Parricide,  p.  174  n. 
Paulus,  n.  146,  vn.  143,  vm.  21 
Paulus  Fabius  Maxim  us,  p.  145  n, 
Pedo,  vn.  129 
Pegasus,  rv.  77 
Peleus,  X.  256,  XIV.  214 
Pella,  X.  168 
Pelopea,  VII.  92 
Penelope,  II.  56 
Peribomius,  n.  16 
Persicus,  III.  221,  XI.  57 
Petosiris,  VI.  581 
Phaeacians   xv.  23,  p.  290  n. 
Phalaris,  vill.  81,  p.  123  n. 
Pharos,  vi.  83 
PharsaKa,  p.  143  n. 
Pharsalia,  Battle  of,  p.  178  n. 
Phiale,  x.  238 
Phidias,  vm.  103 
Philip  of  Macedon,  p.  239  n. 
Philippi,  Battles  of,  p.  178  n. 
Philippus,  xin.  125 
Philomela,  VII.  92 
Phoebus,  VII.  233 
Pholus,  XII.  45 
Picemim,  iv.  65,  XI.  74 
Picus,  vm.  131 
Piso,  v.  109,  p.  193  n. 
Pittacus,  II.  6 
Pluto,  XIII.  50,  p.  201  n. 
Plautius  Lateranus,  p.  193  n. 
Pollio,   vi.   387,   VII.    176,   XI.    43, 

p.  115  n.,  p.  152  n. 
Pollittae,  n.  68 
Polyclitus,  in.  217,  vm.  103 
Polyphemus,  IX.  64,  XIV.  20 
Polyxena,  x.  262 
Pornpeia,  p.  24  n. 
Pompeii,  x.  108 
Pompeius,  IV.  110 
Pompey,  x.  283,  p.  214  n. 
Pontia,  VI.  666 
Ponticus,  vm.  1,  75,  179 
Pontus,  VI.  661,  x.  273 
Poppaea,  p.  121  n. 


Poppysma,  p.  130  n. 

Porta  Capena,  in.  11,  p.  32  n. 

Portus  Augusti,  p.  241  n. 

Posides,  xiv.  91 

Postumus,  vi.  21 

Praeneste,  m.  190,  p.  270  n. 

Priam,  VI.  326,  x.  258,  p.  213  n. 

Priapus,  VI.  316 

Prochyta,  m.  5 

Procne,  vi.  644,  p.  136  n. 

Procula,  in.  203 

Proculae,  n.  68 

Proculeius,  I.  40,  vn.  94,  p.  145  n 

Prometheus,    iv.    133,    VIII.    133. 

XV.  85,  p.  266  n. 
Propertius,  p.  84  n. 
Protogenes,  in.  120 
Prusias  l.,p.  205  n. 
Psecas,  vi.  491,  494 
Ptolemy,  p.  128  n. 
Publitis  Decius  Mus,  p.  179  n. 
Publius  Egnatius  Celer,  p.  40  » 
Pudicitia,  p.  107  n. 
Pylades,  xvi.  26 
Pylos,  x.  246 
Pyrenees,  x.  151 
Pyrrha,  i.   84,  xiv.    162,   xv.   30, 

p.  244  n.,  p.  226  n. 
Pythagoras,  xv.  173 
Pythagoreans,  hi.  229 

Quintilian,  VI.  75,  280,  vn.  180, 190, 

p.  88  n. 
Quirini,  xi.  105 
Quirinus,  m.  67,  VIII.  259 
Qtnrites,  III.  60,  X.  109 

Ravola,  ix.  4 

Remus,  x.  73 

Rhadamanthus,  xm.  197 

Rhine,  vm.  170,  p.  68  n. 

Rhodes,  vi.  296,  p.  152  n. 

Rhodope,  ix.  4 

Richborough,  p.  68  n. 

Rome,  II.  39,  in.  41,  83,  165,  183, 
319,  IV.  38,  V.  58,  VII.  4  138 
Vin.  243,  XI.  46,  197,  and  notes 

°^P?™7>  32'  61»  62>  68>  131> 
loo,  170 

Rubellius  Blandus,  vm.  39,  p.  161  n. 

Rubrenus  Lappa,  vn.  72 

Rubrius,  iv.  105 

Rufus,  vn.  213,  214,  p.  155  n. 

Rutila,  x.  294 


411 


INDEX  TO  JUVENAL 


Rutulians,  p.  16  n. 
Rutilius  Gallieus,  p.  257  n. 
Rutilus,  XI.  2,  5,  21,  XIV.  18 
Rutupiae,  IV.  140 

Sabbath,  the,  p.  273  n. 

Sabine,  ill.  85 

Sabines,  X.  299 

Saburra,  ni.  5 

Saguntum,  p.  297  n. 

Salamis,  X.  179 

Saleius,  VII.  80 

Samoa,  in.  70,  xvi.  6 

Samothrace,  in.  144 

Sardanapalus,  x.  362 

Sarmatia,  IT.  1 

Sarmentus,  v.  3,  p.  69  n. 

Sartorius,  vi.  142 

Saturn,  VI.  570,  XIII.  40,  p.  168  n. 

Saturnalia,  p.  94  n.,  p.  145  n. 

Saufeia,  VI.  320,  ix.  117 

Scaevola,  p.  15  n. 

Scantinian  Law,  II.  44 

Scauri,  II.  35,  VI.  604 

Scaurus,  xi.  91 

Scipio,  II.  154,  and  notes  on  pp.  42, 

96,  158 
Scylla,  XV.  19 
Scythians,  XV.  125 
Secundus  Carrinas,  VII.  205 
Seius   IV    13 
Sejan'us.'x.  63,  66,  76,  89,  90,  104, 

p.  198  n.,  p.  199  n. 
Seleucus,  x.  211 
Semiramis,  n.  108 
Seneca,  V.    109,  VIII.   212,   X.    16, 

p.  174  n. 
Sentinum,  p.  179  n. 
Sergius,  VI.  105,  112 
Seriphos,  VI.  564,  X.  170 
Serpho,  p.  129  n. 
Serranus,  vn.  80 
Sertorius,  p.  294  n.,  p.  296  n. 
Servilia,  X.  319 

Servius  Tulliua,  p.  131  n.,  p.  179  n. 
Setia,  V.  34 
Sextus,  II.  21 
Shetland,  p.  297  n. 
Sibyl,  in.  3,  vni.  126 
Sicily,  p.  76  n. 
Sicvon,  III.  69 
Sigillaria,  p.  94  n. 
Sicnia,  XI.  73 
Silanus,  VIII.  27 


Silius,  p.  217  n. 

Silvanus,  vi.  447,  p.  120  n. 

Siparium,  p.  172  n. 

Sirens,  p.  192  n. 

Sisyphu3,  p.  250  n. 

Social  Wars,  the,  p.  72  n. 

Socrates,     XIV.     320,     p.     154  n  , 

p.  259  n. 
Solon,  X.  274 
Sora,  III.  223 
Sostratus,  x.  178 
Spain,  VIII.  116,  X.  161,  p.  148  n., 

p.  238  n. 
Sportula,  p.  196  n. 
Statius,  VII.  83,  p.  144  n. 
Stentor,  XIII.  112 
Stephanus,  p.  09  n. 
Stheneboea,  x.  327 
Stoic,  xv.  109,  and  notes  on  pp.  17, 

18,  258,  296 
Stoics,  II.  65,  XIII.   121,  p.  72  n., 

p.  153  n. 
Stratocles,  in.  99 
Styx,  p.  165  n. 

Subura,  V.  106,  X.  156,  XI.  51,  141 
Sulla,  I.  16,  II.  28,  p.  4  «.,  p.  19  n. 
Sulmo,  VI.  187,  p.  98  n. 
Sybaris,  vi.  296 
Sycambri,  IV.  147,  p.  69  n. 
Syene,  xi.  124,  p.  230  n. 
Syphax,  vi.  170 
Syria,  xi.  73 


Tacitus,  p.  198  n.,  p.  273  n. 
Tagus,  III.  55,  XIV.  299 
Tanaquil,  VI.  566,  p.  129  n. 
Tarentum,  VI.  297,  p.  106  n. 
Tarquin,  p.  64  n. 
Tarquinius  Priscus,  p.  129  n. 
Tarsus,  p.  41  n. 
Tatius,  Xiv.  160 
Tauromenium,  v.  93,  p.  76  n. 
Teius,  IV.  13 
Telamon,  xiv.  214 
Telephus,  I.  5 
Telesinus,  VII.  25 
Tentyra,  xv.  35,  76,  p.  291  n. 
Tereus,  p.  136  n. 
Terpsichore,  vn.  35 
Teutones,  p.  179  n. 
Thabraca,  x.  194 
Thais,  III.  93,  VI.  O  26- 
Thales,  xm.  184 
Thebais,  VII.  83,  p.  144  n. 


412 


INDEX   TO   JUVENAL 


Thebes,  XIII.  27,  Xiv.  240,  XV.  6, 

and  notes  on  pp.  97,  248,  280,  289 
Themis,  p.  Sin. 
Themison,  X.  221 
Theodoras,  vn.  177 
Thersites,  VIII.  269,  271,  XI.  31 
Thessaly,    vm.     242,    p.     132  n., 

p.  178  n. 
Thrace,  p.  197  n. 
Thrasea,  V.  36 
Thrasyllus,  VI.  576 
Thrasymachus,  vil.  204 
Thule,  xv.  112 
Thyestes,  vm.  228 
Thymele,  I.  36,  VI.  66,  VIII.  197 
Tiber,    III.    62,    v.    104,    VI.    523, 

VII.  121,  XIV.  202,  p.  181  n. 
Tiberius,  notes  on  pp.  130, 155, 161, 

197,  198,  199 
Tibur,  XIV.  87,  p.  270  n. 
Tigellinus,  I.  155 
Tiresias,  XIII.  249,  p.  265  n. 
Tisiphone,  VI.  29 
Titans,  VIII.  132 
Titus,  p.  19  n. 
Tityus,  p.  250  n. 
Tivoli,  III.  192 
Toga  picta,  p.  195  n. 
Toga  prsetexta,  p.  233  n. 
Trajan,  p.  98  n.,  p.  99  n. 
Tralles,  in.  70 
Transylvania,  p.  298  n. 
Trebius,  V.  135 
Trechidipnon,  p.  36  n. 
Triphallus,  VI.  O  26 
Trojans,  VII.  236,  VIII.  56,  p.  213  ». 
Tros,  p.  213  n. 
Troy,  p.  47  n. 
Trypherus,  xi.  137 
Tuccia,  VI.  64 
Tullia,  VI.  306 
Tullius,  VII.  199 
Tullus,  V.  57 

Tunica  palmata,  p.  194  n. 
Turnus,  XII.  105,  XV.  65,  and  notes 

on  pp.  16,  25,  142,  242 
Tvdeus,  XV.  66 
Tyndareus,  VI.  657,  p.  137  n. 


Ucalegon,  in.  199 

Ulysses,   xi.    31,   ix.    65,   X.    102, 

XV.    14,  and    notes  on  pp.    192, 

201,  212,  285,  290 
Umbritius,  in.  21 
Urbicus,  VI.  71 
Ursidius,  VI.  38,  42 

Vagellius,  XIII.  119,  XVI.  23 
Varillus,  II.  22 
Vatinius,  p.  73  n. 
Vascones,  XV.  93,  p.  296  n. 
Veiento,  rv.  113,  IV.  123,  vi.  113, 

p.  65  n.,  p.  159  n. 
Ventidius,  VII.  199,  XI.  22 
Venus,  II.   31,  VI.    138,   300,   570, 

VII.  25,  X.  290,  XVI.  5 
Venusia,  p.  In. 
Vercellae,  p.  214  n. 
Verginia,  X.  £94 
Verginius,  vm.  221 
Verres,   II.    26,   III.    53,   VIII.    106, 

p.  167  n. 
Vespasian,  p.  72  m. 
Vesta,  IV.  61,  VI.  386,  p.  61  n. 
Vestal  Virgins,  p.  57  n. 
Vettius,  VII.  150 
Vindex,  vm.  222,  p.  176  n. 
Virgil,  VI.  435,  VII.  69,  227 
Virginius  Rufus,  p.  176  n. 
Virgo,  p.  85  n. 
Virro,  V.  39,  43,  99,  114,  128,  134, 

149,  156 
Vitellius,  p.  26  n. 
Volesus,  vm.  182 
Volsinii,  HI.  191,  p.  199  n. 
Volusius,  xv.  1 
Vulcan,  vm.  270,  x.  132,  xm.  45, 

p.  138  n.,  p.  249  n. 

Weser,  p.  69  n. 

Xerxes,  p.  207  n. 

Zacynthus,  xv.  114,  p.  297  n. 
Zalaces,  n.  164 
Zeno,  XV.  107,  p.  18  n. 
Zeus,  notes  on  pp.  84,  249,  284 


413 


INDEX  TO   PERSIUS 


Accius,  I.  76,  p.  325  n. 
Adeo,  p.  394  n.,  p.  398  n. 
Agrigentum,  p.  347  n. 
Alcibiades,  p.  361  n.,  p.  358  n. 
Anticyra,  p.  359  n. 
Antiope,  I.  78,  p.  324  n. 
Apennines,  I.  95 
Arcadia,  III.  9 
Arcesilas,  in.  79,  p.  351  n. 
Arcesilaus,  p.  351  n. 
Aricia,  p.  399  n. 
Aristophanes,  p.  329  n. 
Aristotle,  p.  347  n. 
Arretium,  I.  130 
Assos,  p.  374  n. 
Athens,  p.  352  n. 
Attis,  I.  105 
Attius,  I.  50 
Auster,  VI.  12 

Bacchus,  p.  324  n. 
Balance,  p.  373  n. 
Bassarid,  I.  101 
Bassus,  VI.  1,  p.  392  n. 
Bathyllus,  V.  123 
Baucis,  IV.  21 
Berecynthius  Attis,  I.  93 
Bestius,  VI.  37,  p.  390  n. 
Bidental,  p.  336  n. 
Bovillae,  VI.  55,  p.  399  n. 
Brisaeus,  p.  324  n. 
Bruttium,  VI.  27 
Brutus,  V.  85 

Caesar,  VI.  43,  p.  338  a. 
Cffisonia,  VI.  47 
Caligula,  p.  397  n. 
Callirhoe,  I.  133 
Canities,  p.  319  n. 
Carrhae,  p.  338  n. 

414 


Cato,  in.  45 

Centurions,  in.  77,  V.  189 

Ceres,  v.  185 

Chaerestratus,  V.  162,  p.  385  n. 

Chrysippus,  VI.  80,  p.  374  n. 

Cincinnatus,  I.  73,  p.  323  n. 

Cleanthes,  v.  64,  p.  374  n. 

Cor,  p.  393  n. 

Cornutus,  V.  23,  37,  p.  373  n. 

Crassus,  11.  36,  p.  338  n. 

Craterus,  in.  65 

Cratinus,  1.  123,  p.  329  n. 

Crispinus,  V.  126 

Cures,  iv.  26 

Cybele,  p.  389  n. 

Cynic,  1.  133 

Dama,  v.  76,  79 
Davus,  V.  161,  163,  p.  385  «. 
Diana,  p.  399  n. 
Dinomache,  iv.  20 

Echo,  I.  102 

Ennius,  VI.  10,  p.  324  n.,  p.  393  n. 

Ergenna,  II.  26 

Etruria,  p.  336  n. 

Eunuchus,  p.  3S5  n. 

Euphorbus,  p.  393  n. 

Eupolis,  I.  124,  p.  329  n. 

Euripides,  p.  324  n. 

Falernian,  in.  3 

Fate,  V.  48 

Festuca,  p.  377  n.,  p.  386  n. 

Floralia,  v.  178,  p.  380  n. 

Forum,  p.  362  n. 

Gaul,  p.  338  n. 
Germans,  VI.  44 


INDEX    TO    PERSIUS 


Glyco,  V.  9 
Greece,  p.  352  n. 
Greeks,  I.  127,  V.  191 

Helicon,  V.  7,  p.  369  n. 
Hercules,  n.  12,  p.  334  n. 
Herod,  V.  180,  p.  387  n. 
Hippocrene,  p.  310  n. 
Hippolytus,  p.  399  n. 
Hippomanes,  p.  133  n. 
Homer,  pp.  316,  368,  393  nn. 
Horace,  I.  116,  pp.  324,  328,  348, 

353,  380,  386,  396  nn. 
Hypsipyle,  I.  34 

Iliad,  I.  50 

Ionian  Sea,  vi.  29 

Isis,  p.  388  n.,  p.  389  n. 

I  us  naturae  and  "  equity,"  p.  378  n. 

Janus,  I.  58,  p.  322  n. 

Jove,  v.  114 

Jupiter,    II.    21,    22,    29,    40,    43, 

V.  50,  137,  138,  p.  373  n. 
Juvenal,  p.  328  n.,  p.  337  n. 

Labeo,  I.  4,  p.  316  ».,  p.  320  n. 
Licinus,  II.  36,  p.  338  n. 
Lucilius,  I.  114,  p.  328  n. 
Lucretius,  p.  392  n.,  p.  399  n. 
Luna,  vi.  9 
Lupus,  I.  115 

Macrinus,rn.  1 

Maenad,  i.  101,  105 

Maeon,  vi.  11 

Maine,  p.  378  n. 

Manius,  VI.  56,  60 

Marathon,  p.  349  n. 

Marcus,  v.  80,  81 

Maris  expers,  p.  396  n. 

Masurius  Sabinus,  p.  378  n. 

Medes,  in.  53 

Melicerta,  V.  103,  p.  379  n. 

Menander,  p.  385  n. 

Mercury,  II.  44,  vi.  62,  p.  338  n., 

p.  380  n. 
Messala,  II.  72 
Messalae,  p.  341  n. 
Messalinus,  p.  341  n. 
Middle  Academy,  p.  351  n. 
Miscere,  p.  381  n. 


Mucius,  I.  115 
Muse,  v.  21 
Muses,  p.  369  n. 
Mycenae,  v.  17 

Natta,  in.  31 
Nereus,  I.  94 
Nerius,  II.  14 
Nero,  p.  327  n. 
Numa,  II.  59 

Orestes,  in.  118 
Ovid,  p.  361  n. 

Pacuvius,  I.  77,  p.  32 1 n. 
Paganalia,  p.  311  n. 
Painted  Portico,  p.  349  n. 
Palaemon,  p.  379  n. 
Palilia,  I.  72,  p.  322  n. 
Parmenio,  p.  385  n. 
Pedius,  I.  85,  p.  325  n. 
Pericles,  IV.  3,  p.  358  n. 
Persians,  p.  349  n. 
Phaedria,  p.  385  n. 
Phalaris,  p.  347  n. 
Phocis,  p.  359  n. 
Phyllis,  1.34 

noiKiX-q  orda,  p.   349  n. 

Polydamas,  I.  4,  p.  316  n. 
Primordia  vocum,  p.  392  n. 
Procne,  v.  8,  p.  369  n. 
Publius,  V.  74,  p.  376  w» 
Pulfennius,  V.  190 
Pythagoras,    VI.     11,    p.     349 »., 
p.  383  w. 

Quincunx,  p.  384  n. 
Quintus,  p.  393  m. 
Quirites,  in.  106 

Remus,  I.  73 
Rhine,  vi.  47 
Rome,  I.  5,  8,  and  notes  on  pp.  323, 

324,  340,  397 
Romulus,  I.  31,  87 

Samos,  p.  349  n. 
Saturn,  II.  59,  v.  50 
Servius  Tullius,  p.  376  n. 
Sicily,  in.  39 
Socrates,  p.  358  n. 
Solon,  in.  79 


415 


INDEX  TO   PERSIUS 


Stalus,  II.  19,  22,  p.  336  n. 
Stoic,  p.  378  n. 
Stoics,  p.  349  n 
Subura,  V.  32 

Tacitus,  p.  341  n. 
Tadius,  VI.  66 
Terence,  p.  385  n. 
Tereus,  p.  369  n. 
Tesserae,  p.  348  n. 
Thessaly,  p.  359  n. 
Thyestes,  v.  8 
Tiber,  II.  15 
Titos,  p.  318  n. 
Toga  praetexta,  p,  370  ». 


Transvectio  equitum,  p.  346  n. 
Twins,  V.  49,  p.  373  w. 

Umbrians.  ill.  74 


Veientine,  V.  147 
Veivtidiu3,  IV.  25 
Venus,  II.  70,  p.  340  n.,  p. 
Vertere,  p.  382  n. 
Vestals,  II.  60 
Vindicta,  P.  376  n. 
Virbius,  VI.  56,  p.  399  n 
Virgil,  I.  96,  p.368n. 

Zeno,  p.  349  n.,  p.  374  ti, 


348  n 


TniNTED   in  Great  Britain   by   Richard  Clay  &  Sons,  Limited, 

BUNGAY,    SUFFOLK. 


THE  LOEB  CLASSICAL  LIBRARY 


VOLUMES  ALREADY  PUBLISHED. 

Latin  Authors. 

APULEIUS.       THE    GOLDEN    ASS    (METAMORPHOSES).      W. 

Adlington  (1566).     Revised  by  S.  Gaselee.     (3rd  Imp.) 
AULUS  GELLIUS.    J.  C.  Rolfe.     3  Vols. 
AUSONIUS.     H.  G.  Evelyn  White.     2  Vols. 
BOETHIUS:  TRACTS  and  DECONSOLATIONEPHILOSOPHIAE. 

Rev.  H.  F.  Stewart  and  E.  K.  Rand.    (2nd  Imp.) 
CAESAR:  CIVIL  WARS.    A.  G.  Peskett.    (find Imp.) 
CAESAR:  GALLIC  WAR.     H.J.Edwards.   (t,th  Imp.) 
CATULLUS.     F.    W.   Cornish;    TIBULLUS.      J.    P.  Postgate  :    and 

PERVIGILIUM  VENERIS.     J.  W.  Mackail.     (jth  Imp.) 
CICERO:    DE   FINIBUS.     H.  Rackham.     (2nd  Imp.) 
CICERO:   DE  OFFICIIS.   Walter  Miller.    (2nd Imp.) 
CICERO:    DE  SENECTUTE,  DE  AMICITIA,  DE  DIVINATIONE. 

W.  A.  Falconer.     (2nd  Imp.)       1 3rd  Imp.,  Vols.  II.  and  III.  2nd  Imp) 
CICERO:  LETTERS  TO  ATTICUS.  E.  O.  Winstedt.    3  Vols.     (Vol    I 
CICERO:    LETTERS    TO    HIS    FRIENDS.       W.    Glynn   Williams. 

3  Vols.     Vol.  I. 
CICERO:  PHILIPPICS.    W.  C.  A.  Ker.  [Watts 

CICERO:  PRO  ARCHIA,  POSTREDITUM,  DEDOMO.etc.    N.  H 
CICERO:  TUSCULAN  DISPUTATIONS.     J.  E.  King. 
CICERO  :  PROCAECINA,  PRO  LEGEMANILIA,  PROCLUENTIO 

PRO   RABIRIO.     H.  Grose  Hodge. 
CLAUDIAN.     M.  Platnauer.     2  Vols.  [(3rd  Imfi.) 

CONFESSIONS  OF  ST.  AUGUSTINE.     W.    Watts   (1631).     2  Vols 
FRONTINUS  :  STRATAGEMS  and  AQUEDUCTS.    C.  E.  Bennett. 
FRONTO  :  CORRESPONDENCE.    C.  R.  Haines.    2  Vols. 
HORACE:  ODES  AND  EPODES.     C.  E.  Bennett.     (7th  I„.  «.) 
HORACE:  SATIRES,  EPISTLES,  ARS  POETICA.  H.  R.  Fairclough. 
JUVENAL  and  PERSIUS.     G.G.Ramsay.     (2nd  Imp.) 
LIVY.     B.O.Foster.     13  Vols.     Vols.  I.-IV.      (Vol.  I.  2nd  Imp.) 
LUCRETIUS.     W.  H.  D.  Rouse. 
MARTIAL.     W.  C.  A.  Ker.     2  Vols.    (2nd Imp.) 

OVID:  HEROIDES  and  AMORES.     Grant  Showerman.     (2nd Imp.) 
OVID  :  METAMORPHOSES.     F.J.Miller.     2  Vols,     (yd  Imp.) 
OVID  :  TRISTIA  and  EX  PONTO.     A.  L.  Wheeler. 
PETRONIUS.      M.    Heseltine;    SENECA:     APOCOLOCYNTOSia 

W.  H.  D.  Rouse.     (5th  Imp.) 
PLAUTUS.     Paul  Nixon.     5  Vols.     Vols.  I.-III.     (Vol.  I.  2nd  Imp.) 
PLINY:    LETTERS.      Melmoth's    Translation   revised    by    W.    M.    L. 

Hutchinson.     2  Vols.    (3rd  Imp.) 
PROPERTIUS.     H.E.Butler.    (3rd Imp.) 
QUINTILIAN.    H.  E.  Butler.     4  Vols. 

SALLUST.     J.  C.  Rolfe.  [I.  and  II. 

SCRIPTORES  HISTORIAE  AUGUSTAE.    D.  Magie.    3  Vols.     Vols. 
SENECA:  EPISTULAE  MORALES.     R.  M.  Gummere.    3  Vols.    (Vol. 

I.  2nd  Imp.) 
SENECA:  TRAGEDIES.     F.J.Miller.     2  Vols.    (2nd  Imp.) 
SUETONIUS.    J.  C.  Rolfe.    2  Vols.    (3rd Imp.) 
TACITUS:    DIALOGUS.     Sir  Wm.  Peterson,   and  AGRICOLA   and 

GERMANIA.     Maurice  Hutton.     (3rd Imp.) 
TACITUS:   HISTORIES.     C.H.Moore.     2  Vols.     Vol.1. 
TERENCE.     John  Sargeaunt.     2  Vols,     (^th  Imp.) 
VELLEIUS   PATERCULUS  and  RES  GESTAE.     F.  W.  Shipley 
VIRGIL.    H.  R.  Fairclough.    2  Vols.    (Vol.  I.  6th  Imp.,  Vol.  II.  3rd  Imp.) 


Greek  Authors. 

ACHILLES   TATIUS.     S.  Gaselee. 

AENEAS   TACTICUS:    ASCLEPIODOTUS     and     ONASANDER. 

The  Illinois  Greek  Club. 
AESC  H 1 N  ES.    CD.  Adams. 

AESCHYLUS.     H.  Weir  Smyth.     2  Vols.     (Vol.  I.  2nd  Imp.) 
APOLLODORUS.     Sir  James  G.  Frazer.     2  Vols. 
APOLLONIUS  RHODIUS.     R.C.  Seaton.    (yd  Imp.) 
THE  APOSTOLIC  FATHERS.   Kirsopp  Lake.   2  Vols.  (\.  4th,  11.  3rd.) 
APPIAN'S  ROMAN   HISTORY.     Horace  White.     4  Vols. 
ARISTOPHANES.      Benjamin    Bickley   Rogers.      3   Vols.     (2nd  Imp.) 

Verse  trans. 
ARISTOTLE  :  THE  "  ART"  OF  RHETORIC.     J.  H.  Freese. 
ARISTOTLE:  THE  NICOMACHEAN  ETHICS.     H.  Rackham. 
ARISTOTLE:    POETICS,    and   LONGINUS.     W.    Hamilton    Fyfe  ; 

DEMETRIUS  ON  STYLE.     W.  Rhys  Roberts. 
ATHENAEUS:  DEIPNOSOPH  ISTAE.    C.  B.  Gulick.    6  Vols.   Vol.1. 
CALLIMACHUS  and  LYCOPHRON.    A.  W.  Mair  ;  ARATUS.  G.  R. 

Mair. 
CLEMENT  OF  ALEXANDRIA.     Rev.  G.  W.  Butterworth. 
DAPHNIS  AND  CHLOE.      Thornley's  Translation  revised  by  J.   M. 

Edmonds;  and  PARTHEN1  US.     S.  Gaselee.     (2nd Imp.) 
DEMOSTHENES,   DE    CORONA  and  DE  FALSA  LEGATIONE. 

C.  A.  Vince  and  J.  H.  Vince. 
DIO  CASSIUS:  ROMAN  HISTORY.  E.  Cary.    9  Vols. 
DIOGENES  LAERTIUS.     R.  D.  Hicks.     2  Vols. 
EPICTETUS.     W.  A.  Oldfather.     2  Vols.     Vol.  I. 
EURIPIDES.    A.  S.  Way.     4  Vols.    (Vols.  I.,  IV.  3rd  Imp.,  Vol.  II.  \th 

Imp.,  Vol.  111.  2nd  Imp.)    Verse  trans.  [Vol.  I. 

EUSEBIUS:  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.     Kirsopp  Lake.    2  Vols. 
GALEN:  ON  THE  NATURAL  FACULTIES.    A.  J.  Brock. 
THE  GREEK  ANTHOLOGY.      W.  R.  Paton.      5  Vols.     (Vol.  I.  3rd 

Imp..  Vol.  II.  2nd  Imp.) 
THE   GREEK    BUCOLIC   POETS  (THEOCRITUS,    BION,    MOS- 

CHUS).     J.  M.  Edmonds.     (4th  Imp.) 
HERODOTUS.     A.  D.  Godley.    4  Vols.    (Vol.  I.  2nd  Imp.)      [(3rd  Imp.) 
HESIOD  and  THE    HOMERIC    HYMNS.       H.   G.   Evelyn   White. 
HIPPOCRATES.  W.  H.  S.Jones  &  E.  T.  Withington.  4Vols.  Vols.  I. -III. 
HOMER:  ILIAD.     A.T.Murray.     2  Vols.  [II.  2nd  Imp.) 

HOMER:  ODYSSEY.    A.T.Murray.    2  Vols.     (Vol.  I.  4th  Imp.,  Vol. 
ISAEUS.     E.  W.  Forster. 

JOSEPHUS:  H.  St.  J.  Thackeray.      8  Vols.     Vols.  I.  and  II. 
JULIAN.     Wilmer  Cave  Wright.     3  Vols.  [Vol.  II.  2nd  Imp.) 

LUCIAN.     A.   M.   Harmon.     8  Vols.     Vols.   I.-IV.     (Vol.   I.  3rd  Imp., 
LYRA  GRAECA.     J.  M.  Edmonds.     3  Vols. 
MARCUS  AURELIUS.     C.R.Haines.    (2nd Imp.) 
MENANDER.     F.  G.  Allinson. 
PAUSANIAS:  DESCRIPTION  OF  GREECE.  W.  H.  S.  Jones.  5  Vols. 

and  Companion  Vol.     Vols.  I.  and  II. 
PHILOSTRATUS  :    THE   LIFE   OF   APOLLONIUS   OF    TYANA. 

F.  C.  Conybeare.     2  Vols.     (Vol.  I.  3rd  Imp.,  Vol.  II.  2nd  Imp.) 
PHILOSTRATUS  and  EUNAPIUS  :   LIVES  OF  THE  SOPHISTS. 

Wilmer  Cave  Wright. 
PINDAR.     Sir  J.  E.  Sandys.     Uih  Imp.) 
PLATO:     CHARMIDES,     ALCIBIADES,     HIPPARCHUS,     THE 

LOVERS,  THEAGES,  MINOS  and  EPINOMIS.    W.  R   M.  Lamb. 
PLATO  :    CRATYLUS,     PARMENIDES,     GREATER      HIPPIAS, 

LESSER   HIPPIAS.     H.  N.  Fowler. 
PLATO:    EUTHYPHRO,  APOLOGY,   CRITO,   PHAEDO,    PHAE- 

DRUS.     H.  N.  Fowler.     ($th  Imp.)  [W.  R.  M.  Lamb. 

PLATO:      LACHES,     PROTAGORAS,     MENO,     EUTHYDEMUS. 
PLATO  :  LAWS.    Rev.  R.  G.  Bury.     2  Vols. 


PLATO:  LYSIS,   SYMPOSIUM,   GORGIAS.     W.  R.  M.  Lamb. 

PLATO:  STATESMAN,  PHILEBUS.  H.  N.  Fowler ;  ION.  W.R.M. 
Lamb. 

PLATO:  THEAETETUS  and  SOPHIST.     H.  N.  Fowler. 

PLUTARCH:  MORALIA.     F.  C.  Babbitt.     14  Vols.     Vol.1. 

PLUTARCH  :  THE  PARALLEL  LIVES.  B.  Perrin.  n  Vols.  (Vols. 
I.  and  VII.  2nd  Imp.) 

POLYBIUS.     W.  R.  Paton.  [I.-IV. 

PROCOPIUS:   HISTORY  OF  THE  WARS.     H.  B.  Dewing.     7  Vols. 

QUINTUS  SMYRNAEUS.     A.  S.  Way.     Verse  trans.  [Verse  trans. 

SOPHOCLES.    F.  Storr.    2  Vols.     (Vol.  I.  4M  Imp.,  Vol.  II.  3rd  Imp.) 

ST.  BASIL:  LETTERS.     R.  J.  Deferrari.     4  Vols.     Vol.1. 

ST.  JOHN  DAMASCENE:  BARLAAM  AND  IOASAPH.  Rev.  G.  R. 
Woodward  and  Harold  Mattingly. 

STRABO  :  GEOGRAPHY.      Horace  L.  Jones.     8  Vols.     Vols.  I.-IV. 

THEOPHRASTUS  :  ENQUIRY  INTO  PLANTS.  Sir  Arthur  Hort, 
Bart.     2  Vols. 

THUCYDIDES.     C.  F.  Smith.     4  Vols. 

XENOPHON:CYROPAEDIA.  Walter  Miller.  2  Vols.  (Vol.1,  2nd Imp.) 

XENOPHON:  HELLENICA,  ANABASIS,  APOLOGY,  and  SYM- 
POSIUM.    C.  L.  Brownson  and  O.  J.  Todd.     3  Vols.  [Marchant. 

XENOPHON:     MEMORABILIA    and    OECONOMICUS.       E.    C. 

XENOPHON:  SCRIPTA  MINORA.     E.  C.  Marchant. 


IN   PREPARATION 


Greek  Authors. 

ARISTOTLE,   ORGANON,  W.  M.  L:  Hutchinson. 

ARISTOTLE,  PHYSICS,  Rev.  P.  Wicksteed 

ARISTOTLE,     POLITICS    and     ATHENIAN     CONSTITUTION, 

Edward  Capps. 
ARRIAN,    HIST.    OF   ALEXANDER  and   INDICA,   Rev.    E.    Iliffe 

Robson.     2  Vols. 

DEMOSTHENES,    OLYNTHIACS,  PHILIPPICS,  LEPTINES  and 
MINOR  SPEECHES,  J.  H.  Vince. 

DEMOSTHENES,    MEIDIAS,    ANDROTION,     ARISTOCRATES 

TIMOCRATES,  J.  H.  Vince. 
DEMOSTHENES,  PRIVATE  ORATIONS,  G.  M.  Calhoun. 
DIO  CHRYSOSTOM,  W.  E.  Waters. 
GREEK   IAMBIC  AND   ELEGIAC   POETS. 
ISOCRATES,  G.  Norlin. 
LYSIAS,  W.  R.  M.  Lamb. 

OPPIAN,  COLLUTHUS,  TRYPHIODORUS,  A.  W.  Mair. 
PAPYRI,  A.  S.  Hunt. 
PHILO,  F.  M.  Colson  and  G.  W.  Whitaker. 


*      t 


PHILOSTRATUS,   IMAGINES,   Arthur  Fairbanks. 

PLATO,  REPUBLIC,  Paul  Sborey. 

PLATO,  TIMAhls,    CRITIAS,   CUTIPHO,    BPISTULAB,    Rev. 

R.  C   Bury. 
SEXTUS  EMPIRICUS,  Rer.  R    G.   Barf 
THEOPHRASTUS,  CHARACTERS,    I.   II.  Edmonds;     HEROI' 

HIEROCLES    PHILOGBLOS;    CHOLIAMBIC     FRAGMED 

etc,  A.  D.  Knox. 


Latin  Authors. 


BEDE,  ECCLESIASTIC   \I.    HISTORY. 

CICERO,  IN  CATILINAM,  PRO  MURENA,  PRO  SULLA,   I 

Ullman. 
CICERO,  DE  NATURA  DEORUM,  H.  K...  l.h.un. 
CICERO,  DE  ORATORS,  ORATOR,  Bl  ill        .  •  -i  ■■•• 

CICERO,  DE  RBPUBLICA  anu   DB   LEGIBUS,  Cfiatoa  Kryes. 
CICERO,   IN    I  I   ONI  M     PRO  SCAURO,   PR)  I   PONTEIO,   PRO 

MILONE.etc,  N.  H.  Wall 
CICERO,    PRO    SEXTIO    IN  VATINIUM,  PRO  CAELIO     ; 

PROVINCIIS  CONSl  LARIBUS,  PRO  I  W  BO,  D   M  mb 
CICERO,  VERRINB  '"RATIONS,  L.  H.  G.  Greenwood. 
LUCAN,  J.  D.  DufT. 
OVID,   FASTI,  Sir  J.  O.  Fr.^er. 

It  INY,  NATURAL  HISTORY,  W.  II.  S.  Jones  and  L.  F.  Newman 
ST.  AUGUSTINE,  MINOR   WORKS. 
SENECA,  MORAL  ESSAYS,  J.   W.   Bam* 
SIDONIUS,    LETTERS.     E.  V.  Araold  and  \V.   B.   Anderson. 
STATIUS,  J.   H.  Mozley. 
TACITUS,  ANNALS,  John  Jackson. 
VALERIUS  FLACCUS,  A.  F.  Scholfield. 
VITRUVIUS,  DE  ARCHITECTURA,   F.  Granger. 

DESCRIPTIVE  PROSPECTUS  ON  APPLICATION 


London  -  -  WILLIAM     HE1NEMANN 

New  York      -  -  -     G.  PUTNAM'S   SONS 


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